Verdict in MH17 case: Kharchenko, Dubinsky, Girkin found guilty of shooting down passenger jet, Pulatov acquitted

Presiding Judge Hendrik Steenhuis said that in total, Dubinsky, Girkin and Kharchenko must pay more than EUR 16 million (about $16.5 million).

The court earlier convicted the three suspects in the MH17 case, sentencing them to life imprisonment. The fourth suspect, Russian national, Lieutenant Colonel of the GRU, Oleg Pulatov, was acquitted.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over occupied area of Donetsk region on July 17, 2014. There were 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board. All of them died. The international Joint Investigation Team reported that the plane had been shot down from a Buk missile system that belonged to the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces stationed in Kursk.

The defendants are Igor Girkin (Strelkov), former Russia’s FSB colonel and former so-called defense minister of the “Donetsk People’s Republic”; Sergey Dubinskiy, general (at the time of downing – colonel) of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces; Oleg Pulatov, lieutenant colonel of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces; Ukrainian citizen Leonid Kharchenko who fought on the side of the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic”. They are considered to be involved in the transportation and combat use of a Buk missile system.

In March 2020, the District Court of The Hague began the consideration of the case over the downing of Flight MH17.