“The court calls the proven charges so severe,and the consequences so grave,that it holds that only the highest possible prison sentence would be appropriate punishment in retaliation of what the accused did,and what caused so much grief to so many victims and relatives,” he said.
“The court is aware that imposing these sentences cannot take away the pain and suffering,but does hope now that today,exactly eight years and four months after the disaster,clarity has been provided about who’s to blame. This may offer some relief to the relatives.”
He ruled that it was a deliberate action to bring down a plane,even though the three found guilty had intended to shoot down a military and not a civilian aircraft.
Girkin,51,is a former GRU officer who acted as defence minister in the Donetsk People’s Republic,while Dubinsky,60,another retired GRU officer who acted as his deputy.
Kharchenko,50,was the only Ukrainian citizen charged over MH17 and was thought to have helped Durbinsky with the secure transit of the missile system and its removal after the crash.
Loading
The trio was ordered to pay “at least” €16 million ($24.85 million) in compensation to families of the victims.
Since Russia vetoed an effort to form a United Nations tribunal for the case,the trial was held at a high-security court next to Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.
The men were not accused of pressing the button that launched the BUK missile,but prosecutors had alleged they co-operated to obtain and deploy the missile launcher at the firing location with the aim of shooting down an aircraft. The prosecution also provided to the court a detailed narrative about the links between the four men and their important roles in the rebel-held territory.
The plane was cruising at 33,000 feet over Ukraine while in flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur,when at 1.20pm and just seconds after the pilots had verbally communicated with air traffic control operators,it disappeared.
Loading
Minutes later,wreckage,luggage and bodies fell to the ground in six main crash sites located in and around the village of Hrabove. It is widely accepted that a missile had exploded above the cockpit,detonating with such force that the front of the plane tore away.
Russia has always denied any involvement and instead pumped out a range of alternative theories - suggesting a Ukrainian fighter jet fired the missile,or that Ukrainian government forces were responsible,and in some cases fabricated evidence to support their claims.
In March this year,the governments of Australia and the Netherlands launched legal proceedings against Russia in a fresh attempt to hold the country “to account for its blatant violation of international law” following the invasion of Ukraine.
The two countries said they would present what they called “overwhelming evidence” that the Russian Federation was responsible for the incident.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte,in Bali for the G20 meeting on Thursday,said he and his Australian counterparts would continue to fight for justice for the victims and their families.
“The only way to ever see justice is to not let go of this ... to keep the momentum going,” he told reporters.
“You have to maintain the pressure and heat ... the Russian government are not comfortable with this,they don’t like it,they don’t want all this publicity. This is what we need to do for the people who lost loved ones.”
Get a note directly from our foreigncorrespondentson what’s making headlines around the world.Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.