A highly secure court near Amsterdam Airport Schiphol hands down its verdict on Thursday in the trial of four men for the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014. On July 17 of that year, the 298 passengers and crew on the Malaysia Airlines flight were killed when the plane from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was hit over eastern Ukraine held by pro-Russian separatists. The prosecution has since evoked a missile supplied by Moscow.
20 Minutes looks back at this trial which was held in a context of rising tensions around the Russian invasion and paints a portrait of the four suspects: the Russians Igor Girkine, Sergei Doubinsky and Oleg Poulatov as well as the Ukrainian Leonid Khartchenko. Four men, who the prosecution says were part of Kremlin-backed separatist forces and played a key role in bringing the BUK missile system to Ukraine, however, will not be present in the courtroom. Still at large, they refused to attend the trial, which lasted two and a half years.
Who is Igor Girkin?
The most publicized suspect is Igor Girkin, 51, a former spy also known by his nom de guerre “Strelkov” (shooter), who has repeatedly denied that separatists were behind the attack. He was according to the prosecutors a former colonel of the FSB (Russian intelligence services, ex-KGB). The Russian, who gained experience in the wars in Chechnya and the former Yugoslavia, claims to have started the war in eastern Ukraine, before becoming defense minister and commander of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk (DPR).
“As the highest ranking military officer, he maintained contact with the Russian Federation” to obtain the BUK missile that shot down MH17, prosecutors say. In 2014, Girkin ruled with an iron fist the separatist stronghold of Sloviansk where executions for robberies are said to have taken place.
But he was removed from his post later that year under mysterious conditions and returned to Russia, where he lost all influence and reported financial difficulties. Since the invasion of Ukraine in February, he has criticized Russian troop withdrawals and predicted the need to mobilize while Moscow denied it was necessary.
At the beginning of September, he announced in a video that “the war will continue until the complete defeat of Russia”, being very critical of the military leaders.
Strelkov’s Telegram channel posted a photo on October 15 of the suspect in a military camouflage jacket hugging his wife. The suspect then wrote that he had been serving since October 14 “in the active army”. His channel followed by more than 700,000 people indicates that he serves in a volunteer unit and tries to attract more recruits.
Who is Sergei Dubinsky?
Sergueï Doubinski, 60, nicknamed “Khmoury” (gloomy), is according to prosecutors a former military officer of the GRU, the Russian military intelligence service. At the time of the crash, the suspect was said to have been the head of military intelligence for the separatists in eastern Ukraine and one of Igor Girkin’s deputies. According to prosecutors, he played a key role in obtaining the BUK missile and returning it to Russia, and “maintained regular contact with officials in Russia”.
Dubinsky, a veteran of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, reportedly met Mr Girkin during the first Chechen war in the mid-1990s.
Who is Oleg Pulatov?
The only suspect to have legal representation at trial, Oleg Poulatov, 56, is a former officer in the Russian special forces (Spetsnaz). Nicknamed “Giourza” (viper), he was according to prosecutors one of Dubinsky’s deputies in the separatist military leadership in 2014 and deputy head of the DPR’s intelligence service. He would have helped transport the BUK system to Ukraine and provide security for the area where the debris from MH17 fell after the crash.
Pulatov said in a video in court in June that he had “nothing to do with the disaster”.
Who is Leonid Kharchenko?
Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko, nicknamed “Krot” (mole), was also linked to separatist forces during the crash. He commanded a combat unit in the Donetsk region in July 2014, taking orders directly from Sergei Dubinsky, prosecutors say.
Kharchenko is accused of having personally helped escort the missile after it entered Ukraine and then returned to Russia after the crash. In a 2015 interview published by the Rebel News Agency, he called the Ukrainian authorities a “fascist regime” built on a “Nazi” ideology.
Since 2014, Moscow has denied any involvement in the Malaysian Airlines tragedy. The verdict will be given from 1:30 p.m. (12:30 p.m. GMT). The hearing is expected to last approximately one and a half hours. Bereaved families around the world have come forward to hear these findings after long years of seeking justice. The victims came from ten countries, among them: 196 Dutch, 43 Malaysians and 38 Australians.