Dutch Court: "Girkin Found Guilty of Murder 298 Times", One Suspect Acquitted

The District Court of The Hague has found Igor Girkin, as well as his subordinate fighters Sergey Dubinsky and Leonid Kharchenko, guilty of downing the plane, but acquitted Oleg Pulatov.

Judge Hendrik Steenhuis stated this during the announcement of the court's decision in the Schiphol court, the correspondent of "European Pravda" reports.

The court, in particular, has found guilty Russian nationals Igor Girkin and Sergey Dubinsky and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko. Before that, the court had confirmed the Ukrainian version of the MH17 disaster, noting, however, that the main target should have been Ukrainian military aircraft.

"Kharchenko reported to Dubinsky about the use of anti-aircraft missiles and then carried out the order to take them out," the judge said, stressing that the defendants knew that launching the missile would lead to people's deaths.

The court also believes that the intention to shoot down military rather than civilian aircraft does not reduce the guilt of the accused. "The accused, who are not combatants, did not have the right to attack a military plane as well."

The level of complicity of Igor Girkin is different, but the court has also found him guilty. Thus, the judge ruled out that Girkin did not order to shoot down the plane: "Girkin was responsible for shooting down Ukrainian planes and helicopters. However, based on the intercepted conversations it appears that Girkin did not know that the Buk missile had been launched before its launch. We cannot say that he was a classic accomplice."

However, his complicity as a leader in the murder of 298 passengers and crew members of flight MH17 is considered proven by the court. "There is no evidence that Girkin had known before July 17 they would use Buk missile, but it can be assumed that he imagined that there would be human casualties," the judge emphasised.

"They are guilty 298 times," Hendrik Steenhuis stressed.

Meanwhile, the fourth defendant, Oleg Pulatov, was acquitted of the charges, despite the fact that he was Girkin's deputy and instructed the other defendants regarding the movement of the Buk system. "There is no evidence that Pulatov had contributed to the performance of the task given to Dubinsky and Pulatov... Regarding the suspect Pulatov, the court decided that there was no functional connection to this case," the judge said.

"No criminal liability is imposed on Pulatov," he said, adding that the court rejected the request of the prosecutor's office to arrest this person involved in the case.

Earlier, the Hague Court recognised that Russia controlled the "DNR" during the downing of the MH17 passenger jet.