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Politics
Tess Ikonomou

Justice delivered after MH17 verdict: Wong

Foreign Minister Penny Wong says the MH17 verdict provides answers to victims' families. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

Foreign Minister Penny Wong says a Dutch court has delivered justice and truth for victims after three men were found guilty of murdering the passengers and crew of downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

She called on Russia to surrender the convicted men so they may be sentenced for their "heinous crime".

Two Russians and a Ukrainian separatist were found guilty of murder for bringing down the flight over Ukraine in July 2014, killing all 298 people on board. A third Russian defendant was acquitted.

None of the suspects appeared for the trial that began in March 2020 and it's unlikely they will serve any sentence in the near future.

Senator Wong said the trial was the longest-running criminal proceeding in Dutch history and it "delivered justice and delivered truth" for the families of those on board, including the 38 passengers from Australia.

"My thoughts today are with those who lost a loved one, families, friends and all those for whom grief remains unfathomable, and I acknowledge how long you've waited for this truth to come out," she said.

"The delivery of these verdicts is an important step in efforts to hold those responsible to account and it delivers the answers families have sought."

Senator Wong said the verdict also confirmed Russian's responsibility for the attack.

The ruling came more than eight years after the Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was blown out of the sky by a missile during a conflict between pro-Russia rebels and Ukrainian forces.

Prosecutors sought life sentences for the four men on trial.

Hundreds of family members of the people killed travelled to the court to hear the verdict.

Dutch prosecutors said the missile came from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, a unit of the Russian armed forces based in the Russian city of Kursk.

One of the convicted men is Igor Girkin, a 51-year-old former colonel in Russia's Federal Security Service who was commander of armed forces in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic when the plane was shot down.

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