Dutch Court Kicks Off MH17 Trial Against Four Suspects
Dutch Court to Start MH17 Trial Against Four Suspects
(Bloomberg) -- Nearly five-and-a-half years after one of the deadliest aircraft incidents in modern history, three Russian nationals are on trial in the Netherlands alongside one Ukrainian citizen for their role in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Bhd Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine.
Three judges from The Hague District Court preside over the case which is poised to trigger renewed political tensions between Russia and the West after Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier rejected allegations by the Netherlands and Australia of his country’s role in the crash.
Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy, Oleg Pulatov, and Leonid Kharchenko were named as suspects following a multi-year investigation by a five-country investigation team probing the circumstances of the July 17, 2014 crash. None of them showed up at the first day of the proceedings, and are unlikely to do so as Russia doesn’t extradite its citizens. Kharchenko, who holds Ukrainian citizenship, is on separatist-controlled territory in Eastern Ukraine, according to local media. Ukraine has put him on wanted list.
Only Pulatov is represented in court, with his lawyer saying he wasn’t involved in downing the plane, while also questioning the investigation’s credibility. Pulatov’s lawyer also stressed the defense’s need for time as the the prosecutor’s file tops 36,000 pages.
The four face a maximum penalty of life imprisonment under Dutch law.
The identification of all four suspects in June 2019 came more than a year after the investigators said they had found proof the BUK missile that downed the Kuala Lumpur-bound Boeing Co. 777, killing all 298 aboard, belonged the Russia’s 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade in Kursk. Ukraine has accused the Russia-backed separatists in its east of shooting down the plane.
At the time, Putin expressed a lack of trust in the findings by the Joint Investigation Team -- composed of criminal investigators from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands, and Ukraine -- and Russia has since doubled down, denouncing the charges against the four suspects as “unfounded allegations, aimed at discrediting the Russian Federation in the eyes of the international community.” Ahead of the trial, Russia had said it will analyze the validity of a verdict.
The Netherlands was picked in 2017 as the country where the four suspects were to be prosecuted. New legislation passed in 2018 makes it possible to try the suspects in the Netherlands while the rules of the Joint Investigation Team ensure that results of a criminal investigation in one country can be used in a criminal investigation in another country.
The initial hearing on Monday verified 49 claims by the victims’ relatives to speak at the trial, while another 82 will send in written statements, meaning proceedings are expected to last until at least 2021. Relatives will be given ample time to speak in court, which is set up at at Schiphol Judicial Complex, near Amsterdam’s international airport where the ill-fated jet took off, a site large enough to house both the victim’s relatives, and media covering the trial.
The MH17 Flight Disaster Foundation -- a relatives’ group -- called the start of the proceedings “a fist step in a process in which truth and responsibility become known.” Some relatives of MH17 victims were attending at the public gallery above the court room and more at a venue elsewhere in The Netherlands. The Dutch prosecutor ended its opening comments by mentioning all names of the people who died in the plane crash.
Throughout March, hearings will consist of a pre-trial review to establish the current status of the investigation, whether the case file is complete, and if any further investigation is necessary, with the substance of the case being treated from early June.
Once underway, the proceedings are expected to be a drawn-out process going through multiple courts. Damage claims by some 84 relatives of victims will also become part of the suit, and should the defendants decide to show up at a later stage, proceedings will have to start anew. The prosecution might also charge more suspects as the investigation continues.
--With assistance from Stepan Kravchenko and Daryna Krasnolutska.
To contact the reporters on this story: Ellen Proper in Amsterdam at eproper@bloomberg.net;Joost Akkermans in Amsterdam at jakkermans@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Wout Vergauwen, Tony Halpin
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