Ten years ago, flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine

Ten years after the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, a ceremony was held at the crash site in eastern Ukraine to commemorate the victims.

The Boeing 777 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014, when it was shot down over eastern Ukraine, amid a conflict between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces. All 298 people on board were killed.

In the village of Hrabove, residents laid flowers and toys at the rally in memory of the victims. Some of them could not hold back their tears, remembering the day of the tragedy, like Natalya Petrova, a resident of the village and witness of the accident: “I’m sorry. It hurts. And most of all, I’m sorry for the people. I’m sorry for the people. May God punish them – God will punish those who did this.”

Three life sentences in 2022

An investigation by the Dutch Security Council concluded that the missile came from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, a unit of the Russian armed forces.

The crash of flight MH17 was caused by a missile being fired from an agricultural field near Pervomaiskyi (eastern Ukraine).

In 2022, Russians Igor Girkin and Sergei Dubinsky and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko were convicted of murder and involvement in the downing of a plane. They were convicted in absentia because they refused to attend the trial, which lasted two and a half years.

“The court finds the proven charges to be so serious that it believes that only the highest possible prison sentence would be appropriate,” the presiding judge said. Hendrik Steenhuis.

Moscow has always denied any responsibility. Russia has denounced a “political” decision. “The trial in the Netherlands has every chance of becoming one of the most scandalous in the history of legal proceedings,” the Russian Foreign Minister reacted in a statement in 2022.

Investigation suspended in 2023

The trial represents the end of a long quest for justice for the victims’ relatives, who came from 10 countries, including 196 Dutch, 43 Malaysians and 38 Australians.

Three months after the trial, and after eight years of investigations, the inquiry is “suspended”.

Ten years later, the role of Moscow and the involvement of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the delivery of the missile remains, according to the investigation, at the stage of “strong indications”. But, according to the investigators, without “complete and conclusive evidence”.