Thread by @christogrozev

The verdict in the #MH17 case is being pronounced, and the court is already making a clear case that the armed invasion in 2014 was controlled by the Kremlin, and thus responsible for the shoot-down. Very likely thus today's verdicts will not be the last, or most important ones.

"The court has ascertained that the Russian Federation coordinated military actions in the DPR, finanzed and provided weapons to the militants, but also undertook military actions on its own. Russia was in full control of the DPR"

The court is now leading up to the verdict, and is addressing the defense arguments. The court did criticize the prosecution over its overly public behavior but concludes this did not affect the court's ability to issue a fair verdict.

The court deems it incontrovertibly proven that MH17 was shot down by a BUK missile launched from the field near Pervomayskoe. This is amply proven by photographs of the inversion trail, corroborating evidence and intercepted phone calls, and bowtie shaped fragments in crew body.

The contrary evidence provided by Almaz Antey - the (current) BUK manufacturer - is thrown out because of "forgeries and manipulations" in their expertise and the fact that they are owned by the state that is being investigated.

For a good play-by-play coverage of the MH17 court verdict, you can follow this thematic list by @EliotHiggins
twitter.com/i/lists/123694…

The court says there cannot be found any reasonable doubt that the plane wwe destroyed by a Russia-launched BUK. It's inconceivable that such a vast multitude of mutually corroborating evidence could have been forged, so fast, and with zero evidence of manipulation.

The court is going through the personal role of each of the defendants. Pulatov had an explicit and cognizant coordinating role. Girkin was in military control and requested Moscow case. The file did not establish who gave the firing order, but this is irrelevant for culpability.

Defendants do not enjoy combatant immunity, so their planvans actions to shoot down an airplane, even if they mistakenly thought it was military, would be a crime in any event.

Girkin [was the only defendant who] didn't talk about the deployment of the BUK by phone. However as highest military leader in DPR and his role in the removal of the BUK prove he was aware of use of military means that had shot down many helicopters and planes and didn't stop it

So far Girkin, Dubinsky and Kharchenko have been named guilty as active perpetrators. Now the court is discussing Pulatov - the only represented defendant.

The court does not find enough evidence that Pulatov took active and crucial role in the chain of command for the launch. The court also doesn't find him a functional perpetrator. "He could not have changed anything"

(This means no appeal possible by anyone due to lack of legitimate interest)