MH17 convict Igor Girkin arrested in Russia

Igor Girkin, one of the three convicted of shooting down Flight MH17, has been arrested in Russia, his wife reported on Telegram. Russian authorities have not reported the arrests and the reasons behind them.

according to RTL news, Gherkin was arrested on charges of extremism. A former FSB agent has criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu over the course of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Gherkin was arrested at his Moscow home, his wife reported. “At about 11:30 a.m., members of the Commission of Inquiry came to the house,” she wrote, according to the NOS. “I wasn’t there, but the custodian said he grabbed me by the arm and took me in an unknown direction.” She said she had no contact with him and did not know his whereabouts.

Last November, a court in The Hague handed down judgments against Gilkin, Sergei Dubinsky and Leonid Charchchenkot. Life imprisonment for role in shooting down MH17. The court deemed that they had proven to have played a key role in the delivery and subsequent removal from the scene of the BUK missile system that shot down the airliner.

On July 17, 2014, a Malaysia Airlines flight was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board, including 196 Dutch nationals.