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Posted: 2022-11-17 14:35:49

Two Russians and a Ukrainian national have been convicted of murder, over the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in Ukraine in 2014.

One Russian defendant has been acquitted.

A court in the Netherlands found the three men helped procure the surface-to-air missile launcher that shot the plane out of the sky.

There were 298 people killed, including 38 Australians, when the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was struck as it travelled over eastern Ukraine, bound for Kuala Lumpur.

The convicted offenders, Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy and Leonid Karchenko remain at large and were tried in absentia because Moscow refused to hand them over.

It means they are unlikely to serve a prison sentence for their crimes.

Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy, Oleg Pulatov and Leonid Kharchenko are shown onscreen.
Three Russian nationals and one Ukrainian pro-separatist , accused of downing of flight MH17, are shown on screen as international investigators present their latest findings in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.(Reuters: Eva Plevier)

The men were accused of having arranged and transported the missile system, but not of personally having fired it.

Phone call intercepts that formed a key part of the evidence against the men suggested they believed they were targeting a Ukrainian fighter jet.

Of the four men, only the acquitted Russian Oleg Pulatov, pleaded not guilty via lawyers he hired to represent him. 

The Dutch court also said the flight had been shot down by a Russian-made missile fired from a field in eastern Ukraine.

"The court is of the opinion that MH17 was brought down by the firing of a BUK missile from a farm field near Pervomaisk, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew members," presiding judge Hendrik Steenhuis said.

Three residing judges seated in court for the verdict of the MH17 trial.
The panel of judges give their verdict in a court in the Netherlands.(AP)

Moscow denies any involvement or responsibility for MH17's downing and in 2014 it also denied any presence in Ukraine.

In a briefing in Moscow on Thursday, Deputy Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ivan Nechaev told reporters the government would examine the court's findings.

"We will study this decision because in all these issues, every nuance matters," he said.

Australia and the Netherlands had initiated legal proceedings against Russia for the downing of flight MH17. 

Both Australia and the Netherlands maintain Russia was responsible under international law for the attack, and have now initiated legal proceedings against the Russian Federation in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). 

ABC/Reuters

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The families of MH17 crash victims still searching for justice.
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