SCHIPHOL /The Netherlands/, November 17. /TASS/. The Hague believes that Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was downed by a Buk missile fired from a field near the village of Pervomaysky, which was at the time controlled by the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Judge Hendrik Steenhuis said, announcing the verdict in the 2014 plane crash case.
According to the judge, the court believes that the Boeing crashed following the launch of a Buk missile from a field near the village of Pervomaysky. All the 298 people aboard were killed, Steenhuis added.
Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala-Lumpur crashed in the Donetsk Region of Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing 298 people from ten countries. In June 2019, the Joint Investigative Team (JIT) announced that it had identified a group of four people, suspected of being involved in the incident. They are former militia leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic Igor Girkin, also known as Igor Strelkov, and his subordinates Sergey Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and Leonid Kharchenko. The trial against them in absentia began in the Netherlands on March 9, 2020. They are accused of delivering a Buk missile system from Russia to Ukraine. The trial is taking place in the absence of the accused, with two Dutch lawyers representing Pulatov’s interests. The prosecution demands life imprisonment for all the defendants. Lawyers are also seeking damages for the relatives of the victims. Russian officials have repeatedly expressed their lack of confidence in the results of the JIT’s work, and pointed out the groundlessness of the accusations, as well as the unwillingness to use Moscow’s conclusions during the investigation.