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Three people found guilty of downing flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014

Three men have been found guilty of murder for shooting down flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014. 298 people died on the passenger jet.

298 people, including 15 crew and 80 children were on the Malaysia Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on 17 July 2014. Those on board were from 17 countries, including 196 from the Netherlands, 43 from Malaysia, 38 from Australia and 10 from the UK.

At the time, Russia was attempting to control part of Ukraine and a number of military planes had been shot down. Ukraine closed the airspace at lower altitudes, but planes were still crossing the country.

Two Russian men and one Ukrainian man were found guilty in absentia and sentenced to life in prison by a Dutch court. Another Russian was acquitted.

The military leader of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic, Igor Girkin, was convicted of deploying the missile and of seeking Russian help. Sergei Dubinsky was convicted of having ordered and overseen the transport of the Buk missile launcher. Acting on Dubinsky's instructions, Leonid Kharchenko was found to have overseen the Buk.

The fourth man, Oleg Pulatov, was the only one to have legal representation at the trial. He was acquitted though it was found that he knew about the missile.

The judges ruled that it was a deliberate action to bring down a plane, though the initial target had been a military not civilian aircraft.

A team of international investigators found that what hit the plane was a Russian-made 9N314M-type warhead carried on the 9M38M1 missile, launched from the eastern part of Ukraine using a Buk missile system.

Image: Wikimedia / Alan Wilson / Boeing 777-2H6ER '9M-MRD' Malaysian

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