Moscow court sentences former illegal military group DPR leader Igor Girkin to four years in prison for "calling for extremism"
Moscow, Russia (Svidomi) — A court in Moscow has sentenced Igor Girkin, a militant and former leader of the illegal armed group "DPR", who was found guilty of shooting down flight MH17, to four years in prison for "calling for extremism". In his posts on social media, he criticised the Russian authorities for their allegedly "soft policy towards Ukraine".
Strelkov was also banned from administering websites and pages on social media for three years, according to Russian propaganda media.
On July 21, 2023, law enforcement officers in Russia detained the former leader of the DPR militants, Igor Girkin (Strelkov), for "calls for extremism". In his Telegram channels, he wrote about an allegedly "soft policy towards Ukraine".
Igor Girkin (Strelkov) is a Russian military officer, former colonel of the Federal Security Service and former leader of the pro-Russian terrorist military group People's Militia of Donbas. He was the so-called 'minister of defence' of the illegal military formation 'DPR'. In the spring and summer of 2014, he took part in the occupation of the Ukrainian town of Sloviansk, Donetsk region (the Ukrainian military de-occupied it in the summer of 2014. Today, the town is under the control of Ukraine and is a frontline zone - ed.)
Igor Girkin, one of the four defendants in the MH17 case.
On July 17, 2014, in the skies over the Donetsk region, militants shot down a Malaysia Airlines plane flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. There were 298 people on board, and they all died.
The investigation found that the missile was fired from a Russian Buk missile and air defence system and that Russia was responsible for the tragedy. The case of the plane crash was heard by a Dutch court.
On November 17, 2022, a court in The Hague found Sergei Dubinsky, Igor Girkin and Leonid Kharchenko guilty of shooting down Boeing flight MH17 and killing 298 people. The fourth suspect, Russian Oleg Pulatov, was acquitted. The first three were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Currently, the Security Service of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine have opened several cases against Girkin for terrorist activities, torture, murder and violation of state sovereignty. He has also been put on the international wanted list by the Netherlands in connection with the downing of civilian Boeing 777 flight MH17.
