Won't file appeal in MH17 case, Dutch prosecutors say
MH17 trial
Dutch prosecutors said on Thursday they won't be filing an appeal against the outcome of the trial over the 2014 downing of Flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine. A Russian man was acquitted in the matter three others were convicted and the prosecutors said that making an appeal would be a "great burden" for the families.
"An appeal would be a great burden for the next of kin, because they would then remain in uncertainty about the outcome of the criminal case," the prosecution service said.
Oleg Pulatov was found not guilty by a Dutch court on November 17, while Russians Igor Girkin and Sergei Dubinsky and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko were convicted and sentenced to life in absentia. The three are fugitives and believed to be in Russia.
Also Read |Dutch court convicts two Russians, one Ukrainian for MH17 downing, acquits one
They had helped arrange the transport into Ukraine of the Russian military BUK missile system that was used to shoot down the plane. However, they did not physically pull the trigger.
The plane carrying 298 people was shot down by a Russian-made missile fired by Moscow-backed separatists over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014. The Malaysian airliner was on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. The victims of the disaster came from 10 countries, including 196 Dutch, 43 Malaysians and 38 Australians.
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The prosecution service said that the verdict gave families "certainty on a number of important subjects" including Russia's role in the tragedy. They can now use this in separate civil cases, it said.
The three convicted men have not appealed within the 14-day deadline and so their convictions are "irrevocable," the prosecution service added.
Judges had said that even though they weren't the ones who physically pulled the trigger, they are guilty of murder and bringing down the plane since they were responsible for bringing the missile into Ukraine.
The court also said that Russia was in control of the Donetsk People's Republic, the separatist group to which the convicted men belonged.
Russia has denied all involvement and slammed the "scandalous" verdict.
(With inputs from agencies)
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