MH17: three men found guilty of murdering 298 people in shooting down of plane
A Dutch court has convicted two Russians and a Ukrainian of the murders of 298 people who died in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine. Delivering the verdict in The Hague on Thursday, Judge Hendrik Steenhuis found Igor Girkin, Sergei Dubinsky and Leonid Kharchenko guilty of the attack. A fourth man was acquitted. Steenhuis also detailed the circumstances of the judgment and the findings that a Buk missile was used to shoot down flight MH17, with the guilty men believing it was a military aircraft. 'Such an error does not, however, detract from the premeditated intent ... The criminal act of downing an aircraft and killing the persons on board was, therefore, part of the plan from the first,' Steenhuis said. The three men remain at large.
