Australia has demanded that Russia extradite three men convicted of shooting down a Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 298 people over Ukraine.
A Dutch court has condemned two Russians and one Ukrainian to life in prison, but they are believed to be in Russia.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong stated, “We call on Russia to hand over those guilty so that they may face the judicial judgment for their horrible act.”
Russia criticized the ruling as politically motivated and shameful.
Extremely unlikely are the three men’s surrender to face justice.
Thursday, more than eight years after flight MH17 was shot down by a Russian-made missile over eastern Ukraine, the court concluded that the missile had been fired intentionally to bring down a plane, even if the target had been a military aircraft rather than a civilian airliner.
Igor Girkin, Sergei Dubinsky, and Leonid Kharchenko were all senior figures in the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), which was established by separatists when war broke out in eastern Ukraine months before Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down.
The court determined that Russia had complete control over the DPRK and that there was ample evidence of contact with Moscow before and following the attack.
All three were found guilty of mass murder and bringing down the plane in their absence. Oleg Pulatov, a fourth man who had legal representation at the trial, was exonerated of all charges.
The majority of the 298 passengers and crew were from Malaysia, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Belgium, among other countries.
Visibly moved, the Australian foreign minister told reporters that the Dutch court had provided justice and the truth for everyone on board, including 38 Australians and their families.
“I was on that flight, as were many Australians, and it’s unfathomable that these people could decide to shoot down a civilian aircraft with children on board,” said Ms. Wong.
Ria van der Steen, who lost her father and stepmother in the attack, stated that after more than eight years, justice had been served for the victims and their families: “I’m glad Russia has not been able to repeatedly claim complete innocence with manipulated evidence.”
Nonetheless, Moscow is unlikely to respond to Australia’s request that the three men be extradited.
The Russian foreign ministry has criticized both the trial and the verdict, claiming that they were “based on a political order to reinforce the version promoted by The Hague and international investigators regarding Russia’s involvement in the attack.”
“The trial in the Netherlands has every chance of becoming one of the most scandalous in the history of legal proceedings with its extensive list of oddities, inconsistencies, and questionable arguments of the prosecution,” stated a statement on the website of the Dutch foreign ministry.
Obtaining justice for households
In the years following the attack, a joint international investigation pieced together what transpired in the skies over eastern Ukraine, transporting the plane’s debris back to the Netherlands to determine how it was shot down.
They concluded that a Buk missile manufactured in Russia was fired from a Buk-Telar launcher in a field near Pervomaiskyi in eastern Ukraine, which was at the time held by Russian-backed fighters. Witnesses along the route confirmed that the missile system had recently been transported from Russian territory to eastern Ukraine. The shipment was then transported back to Russia on a Volvo truck.
Russia presented a variety of alternative explanations, including the claim that the missile launcher was fired from a position held by the Ukrainians. The Dutch court determined that the Russian evidence was both fabricated and not evaluated independently.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine stated that those higher up in the Russian command should also be tried for the shooting down of MH17: “Punishment for all Russian atrocities, both then and now, will be inevitable.”
The trial should now be followed by the creation of a special international tribunal for Russian aggression against Ukraine, according to the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk.
James Cleverly, the foreign secretary of the United Kingdom, described the verdict as “an important step in securing justice for the families of the victims.”
Who was found guilty?
Igor Girkin is the most well-known of the three men sentenced to life in prison. Ex-colonel of Russia’s FSB security service who rose to prominence in Russia’s proxy force in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, also known as Igor Strelkov.
The Dutch court determined he was the highest military leader in the DPR and ultimately responsible for the deployment of the missile launcher. During the trial, it was revealed that Girkin had discussed the need for Buk missile defenses with Moscow.
Girkin has been a vocal critic of Russia’s military tactics in Ukraine, but for the past month, he has described his service in a Russian volunteer unit.
Sergei Dubinsky, an additional Russian national and former officer in Russia’s GRU military intelligence, was Igor Girkin’s deputy when MH17 was shot down.
The judges ruled that he was responsible for bringing the Buk-Telar launcher to Ukraine and for organizing and directing its placement. In a wiretapped conversation shortly after MH17 was shot down, Dubinsky is heard discussing “their Buk” shooting down an aircraft with Leonid Kharchenko, the third man found guilty.
Prosecutors assert that Girkin instructed Dubinsky to remove the Buk launcher hours after MH17 was shot down.
Leonid Kharchenko, a Ukrainian national who commanded a combat unit, is said to have received direct orders from Dubinsky. The judges determined that he and Dubinsky, together with the launcher’s crew, were “co-perpetrators in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17”
In the hours after MH17 was shot down, Dubinsky allegedly relayed Girkin’s orders to deploy the missile launcher to Kharchenko, who is described as guarding the Buk-Telar, according to prosecutors. Upon being asked if it is in danger of being struck by artillery, he is heard to respond: “They will not attain it. We are too far away.”
