By KYIV. Nov 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called the verdict handed down by the court in The Hague in the case of the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 an important step towards justice for the 298 people who died.
“The guilty verdict issued today against three members of Russian proxy forces in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 is an important step toward justice for the 298 individuals who lost their lives on July 17, 2014,” he said on Twitter.
Earlier, the District Court of The Hague found two Russian citizens and one Ukrainian – Igor Girkin, Sergei Dubinsky and Leonid Kharchenko – guilty of the crash of the Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 passenger liner, resulting in the death of 298 people.
Another accused, Russian Oleg Pulatov, has been found not guilty by the court.
Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 flying MH17 Amsterdam (Netherlands) – Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) was shot down in the sky over Donetsk region on July 17, 2014. All 298 people on board died. Two thirds of the passengers are Dutch nationals. The cause of the disaster is being investigated by the International Investigation Team, which includes representatives of law enforcement agencies from Ukraine, the Netherlands, Belgium, Australia and Malaysia.
In September 2016, the group published conclusions that the liner was shot down by a missile launched from the Buk surface-to-air missile, and a year ago announced that Buk belonged to Russia’s 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade stationed in Kursk.
