A Dutch court has sentenced three manslaughter suspects to life imprisonment for their role in a passenger plane crash. MH17 her Malaysia Airlines over Ukraine in 2014.

The convicts, two former Russian intelligence officers and a Ukrainian separatist leader, were found guilty of shooting down the plane and killing all 298 people on board. These are Russians Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinsky and Ukrainian Leontin Kharchenko. The fourth suspect, Russian Oleg Pulatov, was acquitted.

The court also ordered the convicts to pay more than 16 million euros in compensation to the relatives of the victims. The suspects were convicted in absentia and are on the wanted list. They are believed to be in Russia, which will not extradite them. The court ruled that the perpetrators did not have immunity because they were not members of the Russian armed forces.

Passenger flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine on 17 July 2014, killing all 298 passengers and crew.

At the time, the region was the scene of clashes between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces, harbingers of this year’s war.

Moscow denies any involvement or responsibility in the downing of MH17.

Zelensky welcomes court decision

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the decision of the Dutch court. “Punishment for all Russia’s atrocities – both present and past – will be inevitable,” Zelensky tweeted.

For his part, his adviser Mikhail Podolyak said the court’s decision was a clear signal that “every war crime committed by the Russians” will be investigated and “brought to a conclusion.”

“We can say that this is the strongest signal to the whole world, including Russia itself, that every war crime committed by the Russians will be documented, investigated and brought to an end. It doesn’t matter how long it takes,” Podolyak told Reuters.

Source: APE-MPE-Reuters-AFP.