The District Court of The Hague announced the decision in the case of the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 2014, 17 in the sky over the Ukrainian Donbass, resulting in the death of 283 passengers and 15 crew members.
The court in The Hague considers the guilt of Strelkov-Ghirkin proven, Kharchenko and Dubinsky are considered to be involved in the MH17 disaster. They were sentenced in absentia to life terms.
The decision will be read by presiding judge Hendrik Steinhaus.
Note that Leonid Kharchenko is a citizen of Ukraine. The other two Boeings involved in the battle are Russian citizens. At the same time, the Russian Oleg Pulatov was declared innocent in this case. The court rejected the prosecutor's request to put him in prison. According to the court, there is no evidence that Pulatov is personally involved in the crimes charged by the prosecution. The court believes that he should be acquitted.
The court ruled that the plane was shot down by a Buk air defense system, a missile launched from Pervomaiskyi.
The Hague District Court ruled that the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic" has been controlled by the Russian Federation since at least May 2014.
"The court believes that the downing of the MH17 airliner occurred as a result of the launch of a missile from the Buk in the area of Pervomaiske," said judge Hendrik Steingajus.
He also noted that there was irrefutable evidence that Russia had "total control" over the militants.
"Starting from mid-May 2014, a situation arose in which Russia had the so-called general control over the territory of the so-called DPR," Steingaius said.
In addition, according to the findings of the court in The Hague, the Buk air defense system from which MH17 was shot down was brought from Russia to Ukraine and then taken back.
The Hague Court also assessed the total amount of compensation to the relatives of the victims of the MH17 disaster at more than 16 million euros.
