By KYIV. Nov 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has called the court’s decision in The Hague, which found two Russian citizens and one Ukrainian guilty of the crash of the passenger liner flight MH17, important, and stressed the need for contractors to be in the dock.
“Important court decision in The Hague. First sentences for the perpetrators of MH17 downing. Holding to account masterminds is crucial too, as the feeling of impunity leads to new crimes. We must dispel this illusion. Punishment for all RF’s atrocities then & now is inevitable,” the president 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.
