Three Men Sentenced to Life Prision for Downing of MH17 彈擊落馬航致298人罹難 3人判處終身監禁

Dutch judges on Nov. 17 convicted three men of murder for their role in the 2014 shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine, and sentenced them to life in prison. The three were all found to have helped arrange the transport of a Russian military missile system into Ukraine that was used to shoot down the plane although they were not the ones who actually fired the missile.

Hendrik Steenhuis, Presiding Judge: “Suspects (Igor) Girkin, (Sergey) Dubinsky and (Leonid) Kharchenko are convicted.”

The Dutch court ruled three out of the four men guilty on Thursday, Nov. 17 over the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 that killed all 298 people on board. The fourth man was acquitted. These four men with ties to Russia were charged for mass murder for shooting down the plane. A Dutch-led multinational investigation found that the plane was shot down by a Russian surface-to-air missile system over rebel-held eastern Ukraine while making its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. Family members of the victims decry the Russia-Ukraine War.

Jon O'Brien, Victim's relative: “Our son and all the people on MH17 were killed in this war. It's the war that took their lives. It's the Russian aggression in Ukraine that killed 298 people on MH17 and we want to see an end to that aggression and an end to that war.”

However, the Russian government rejected the verdict, called it "biased and politically motivated." The Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the ruling and finds Russia responsible for the unfortunate 38 Australians killed on the plane. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia is not telling the truth.  

Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukrainian President: “Russia lied a lot about this disaster, but still the key facts were established. Now the perpetrators have been convicted and evidence has been provided to convict those responsible at a higher level.”

Two of the convicted are Russians that worked in Russian security services, one being Igor Girkin, a former colonel in Russia's Federal Security Service and military leader of the Donetsk People's Republic. The third man is a Ukrainian leader of a separatist military unit. Buk missile system was transported into Ukraine from a Russia military base. The three convicted men deliberately took actions to shoot down a plane, but intended to shoot down a military aircraft. Family members of the victims may take legal actions against Russia.   

Dmitry Oreshkin, Political Analyst: “Apparently, this is going to happen (victims' families suing Russia), because the relatives of the victims have been preparing for this for a long time. And, accordingly, there will be a court ruling, and it will probably be in favour of the relatives, because now it has a legal basis. ”

The Dutch ruling sets as another record for prosecution of war crimes and justice delivered amid the Russia-Ukraine War. 

審判長史汀霍斯宣布：「嫌犯吉爾金、杜賓斯基和哈成科，被判有罪。」

荷蘭法院17日以謀殺導致飛機墜毀等罪名，判處4名被告中3人罪名成立，將面臨無期徒刑，另1名被告無罪。這4人是2014年馬航MH17班機，遭飛彈擊落，導致機上298人全數喪命的嫌犯，罹難者家屬對這個判決結果表示欣慰，也批評俄羅斯不該侵略烏克蘭。

罹難者家屬歐布萊恩指出：「我兒子跟MH17班機上所有人，都在這場戰爭中喪生，戰爭奪走他們性命，是俄羅斯侵略烏克蘭，導致MH17班機298人喪命，我們希望侵略跟戰爭能結束。」

不過俄羅斯政府一再撇清飛機墜毀責任，判決出爐後，俄國外交部的官方回應此為「政治性判決」。罹難者中有38名澳洲人，澳洲外交部表示，此判決確認俄羅斯負有責任。烏克蘭總統澤倫斯基，則批評俄羅斯當局仍在一直撒謊。

烏克蘭總統澤倫斯基表示：「俄羅斯在這場災難中不停撒謊，但關鍵事實還是被認定，現在肇事者被定罪，並提供對更高層的人定罪的證據。」

被定罪的3名被告，兩人為俄羅斯前安全部隊成員，與一名親俄烏克蘭人；其中現年51歲的吉爾金，是俄國聯邦安全局特工出身，曾擔任頓內次克人民共和國國防部長。政治評論家指出，荷蘭檢察官舉證，這枚山毛櫸地對空飛彈，由俄羅斯軍事基地運往頓巴斯前線，最後擊落一架民航機，家屬接下來可能對俄國展開法律訴訟。

政治評論家奧謝金分析：「顯然這將會發生，因為罹難者家屬為此準備很長的時間，因此將會有法庭判決，而且結果可能偏向家屬這邊，因為現在它有法源依據。」

法界也認為，俄烏戰爭至今依然烽火連天，荷蘭法院的這個判例，將為起訴俄羅斯犯下的戰爭罪設下範例。