Families recount horror ten years after MH17 tragedy

Four suspects—Russians Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy, and Oleg Pulatov, as well as Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko—faced murder charges for their alleged involvement in the attack. In 2022, three were convicted by a Dutch court.

Igor Girkin was commanding armed forces in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic at the time of the attack. Sergey Dubinskiy was his deputy leading intelligence activities in the area. Leonid Kharchenko led a pro-Russian rebel unit in Donetsk.

Giving one of the first victim impact statements at hearings in 2021, Ria Van der Steen spoke about nightmares and being unable to bid farewell to her loved ones after they were killed while heading to Borneo for a holiday. “I saw wreckage, bodies, personal effects,” ABC News reported her saying. “I could not stop crying until I woke up screaming.”

Her father and stepmother were identified from small pieces of bone, which she described as shocking when presented with two small bags containing them. “I knew it was them, but emotionally I did not want to accept it,” she said.

Sander Essers recounted how his brother Peter had called him before boarding and predicted his own death. “In a gloomy voice he said to me literally: ‘Sander I’m afraid that I’m not going to come back alive.’ Later he said: ‘We’re flying over a war zone.’ He was dead scared and asked me urgently whether or not he should board.” Essers reassured his brother but now often feels partly responsible for his death.

In January last year, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia exercised jurisdiction in eastern Ukraine when flight MH17 was shot down. The Dutch government expects that court to deliver a judgment on Russia's responsibility next year.

Russia has denied any involvement.

AirlineRatings extends its condolences and deepest thoughts to all those suffering from this tragic loss on this tenth anniversary.