Relatives of MH17 airline crash victims won a lawsuit against former separatist commander Girkin
A group of the MH17 victims’ relatives won their case in US courts, which entitles them to receive compensation in the hundreds of millions of US dollars. The Dutch TV program Zembla received the relevant documents from the court.
The lawsuit was instituted by family members of 25 victims of the MH17 catastrophe, ten of whom are Dutch citizens. A case was opened against Igor Girkin (Strelkov), who was previously the “Minister of Defense of the Donetsk People's Republic."
The US judge issued its verdict on December 21. The court ruled that the total amount of compensation to the relatives of the tragedy’s victims should amount to $400 million, or $20 million for each deceased passenger. However, there is practically no chance to make good on the claims because Girkin did not appear in court and he was not found at his home address in Moscow.
Lawyers for the victims' relatives intend to arrest Girkin's property but it might not be worth enough to pay the compensation. "It's not about money; it's about justice for families. We'd like to draw the world’s attention to the cause and to those who are responsible for this terrible tragedy," the lawyer, Floyd Winser noted.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crashed on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 passengers on board. Immediately after the crash, the separatists reported on their “Updates from Igor Ivanovich Strelkov” page on VKontakte social network that the militants had shot down a plane in the immediate vicinity of the MH17 crash.
In July 2015, the relatives of the deceased passengers filed a lawsuit against Girkin for $900 million.