By KYIV. Nov 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has called this day important for justice when the decision of the Hague District Court, which found two Russian citizens and one Ukrainian guilty of the crash of the passenger liner flight MH17, and stressed that such crimes cannot go unpunished.
“The verdict reached by The Hague District Court marks an important day for justice and accountability in the downing of flight MH17. There can be no impunity for such crimes. My thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the 298 innocent victims,” 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.
