Dutch court convicts three for Malaysian Airlines MH17 plane crash

• A fourth man who was charged in the incident was acquitted.
• The four men — three Russians and one Ukrainian— were tried in absentia and are believed to be in Russian-controlled territory, meaning they are unlikely to serve any sentence.
• The judges who delivered the verdict said Russia had overall control of separatist forces at the time of the downing of the plane.

State of play: The court ruled that the plane crash was the result of a deliberate act, even though the group had intended to target a military aircraft and not a civilian one, the BBC reported.

• The court convicted two Russians and one Ukrainian for the murder of the aircraft's 298 passengers. One Russian was acquitted due to lack of evidence, per AP.

• The three convicted men were sentenced to life in prison.
• "There is no reasonable doubt," that MH17 was shot down by a Russian-made Buk missile, presiding Judge Hendrik Steenhuis said Thursday, Reuters reported.
• The Russian suspects — Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy and Oleg Pulatov — are all former intelligence officers and the Ukrainian, Leonid Kharchenko, is a Ukrainian separatist leader, per Reuters.
• The trial had lasted over two years. Both the suspects and prosecutors have two weeks to file an appeal if they wish, AP reported.