BADHOEVEDORP (the Netherlands) – Dutch judges today said they want victims’ relatives to finally have “clarity” about the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine, as the trial of four suspects enters a key phase.
Some relatives were in court for the start of a week in which judges will at last examine evidence against the three Russians and one Ukrainian, who are on trial in absentia over the July 2014 disaster.
The trial formally began in March last year, but has until now dealt with legal arguments, mainly about the admissibility of evidence in the crash, in which all 298 passengers and crew on the Boeing 777 were killed.
“Up until today, no one has come forward and said they are even partially responsible for the crash of MH17,” presiding judge Hendrik Steenhuis told the court.
He said it is crucial for the evidence to be heard in open court despite the absence of Russian nationals Oleg Pulatov, Igor Girkin and Sergei Dubinsky, and Ukrainian citizen Leonid Kharchenko.
Only Pulatov has legal representation.
“The hearing being public is important to society in general, and to the relatives, particularly, that there will be clarity about the result of the investigation after years of investigation,” said Steenhuis.
‘Such a large case’
Judges said the court will this week look at evidence in relation to three key questions: whether the Boeing 777 was shot down by a Russian-made missile, the location the missile was fired from, and the role of the four suspects in the crash.
The idea that the plane was downed by a BUK surface-to-air missile operated by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine is the “main scenario”, said Steenhuis, adding that they will also look at theories including that an aircraft shot down MH17.
The court will highlight key parts of the evidence, and not go over every part in court, he said.
“The file consists of 65,000 pages, and many hundreds of hours of video and audio recordings. It’s such a large case that it’s simply not possible to speak about every detail.”
The prosecution and defence will have the chance to raise issues during hearings that will go on until July 9.
Relatives of the victims will be able to address the court in September.
The jet was travelling from Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down over a part of eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian rebels.
An international investigation concluded that a BUK missile that originally came from the Russian army’s 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade based in the city of Kursk was responsible.
Secure courtroom
All four suspects are accused of being key figures among the separatist rebels battling Kiev.
Girkin, also known by his pseudonym “Strelkov”, is a former Russian spy and a historical re-enactment fan who helped kick-start the war in Ukraine.
Dubinsky, who has also been tied to Russian intelligence, allegedly served as the separatists’ military intelligence chief, while Pulatov is an ex-Russian special forces soldier who was one of Dubinsky’s deputies.
Kharchenko allegedly led a separatist unit in eastern Ukraine.
Pulatov, in a video played to the court in November, said he did not see signs of any missile.
The trial is being held in the Netherlands, in a secure courtroom near Schiphol airport, because it was the point of departure for the doomed plane, and because 196 of the victims were Dutch.
The judges visited the reconstructed, shrapnel-pierced wreckage at a Dutch airbase for the first time last month, in what they described as an “emotionally loaded” day. – AFP, June 8, 2021
