Bellingcat was ordered to pay 340 thousand rubles to the ex-commander of the DPR separatists because of the article “The bird has flown to you”

The Oktyabrsky Court of St. Petersburg ordered a group of investigative journalists Bellingcat to pay 340,000 rubles to the commander of the DPR separatists, Igor Besler, nicknamed "Bes". This was reported by the joint press service of the city courts.

"Bes" went to court because of the articles "The bird flew to you" and "Identification of the separatists involved in the downing of MH17." Bezler saw in them information that discredits his honor and dignity, a total of 20 points.

As a result, the court recovered 150 thousand rubles from the Bellingcat fund, the same amount from the company of the same name, and the remaining 40 thousand from investigator Peter van Huys.

The article “The bird flew to you” told that Bezler received information from his subordinates about the Boeing MH17 aircraft, which they mistook for a military aircraft. He, according to the author, probably handed it over to his leadership. Thus, he allegedly could have contributed to the fact that in the end the plane was shot down.

It happened on July 17, 2014 in the sky over Donetsk. The plane that day operated a Malaysian Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people on board, citizens of ten countries, were killed. The criminal investigation was conducted by a specially created Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which in June 2019 announced the names of four suspects involved in the disaster. Investigators believe that the plane was shot down by a Buk missile delivered from a military unit in Russia.