Trial of 4 suspects in downing of trip MH17 opens
Three Russians and a Ukrainian continued trial in holland on Monday, charged with multiple counts of murder because of their alleged involvement in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Airline flight 17, which killed all 298 persons aboard.As expected, the suspects did not come in the courtroom.
It's a time that has been quite a long time coming for relatives and buddies of those killed on July 17, 2014, when a Buk missile blew MH17 from the sky above conflict-torn eastern Ukraine. Five black-robed judges - three who will hear the case and two alternates - filed silently right into a loaded courtroom on the edge of Schiphol, the airport terminal from which the doomed flight took off, at risk of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
A small amount of members of the family of victims were in court, other folks watched proceedings with a video link from a conference center in the central Netherlands.Among those in court was Piet Ploeg, who lost his brother, Alex, his sister-in-regulation and his nephew. Ploeg sat in courtroom, his hands folded before him, hearing attentively as the case started.
"Next of kin prefer justice, simple just as that," he said. "We want justice for the fact that 298 persons are murdered, and this courtroom and the hearings (that) begins today gives us more clarity about what happened, why it happened and who was in charge of it."Presiding Judge Hendrik Steenhuis said the criminal file in the event contains some 36,000 pages and "a massive amount of multimedia data files."
Examining the data "is a very unpleasant and psychological period. There are numerous victims not to mention because of there are many following of kin," Steenhuis explained.Jon and Meryn O'Brien flew all the way from Sydney to witness the beginning of the unprecedented Dutch trial, hoping for justice for his or her son Jack.
"The trial is essential because the truth still concerns," Jon said on the eve of the trial. "Don't be able to murder 298 persons and for there to get no consequences, regardless of who you are. Therefore, it is important the truth about that is told."
The O'Briens were among families who arranged 298 white chairs in rows resembling aircraft seating beyond your Russian Embassy in The Hague on Sunday to protest what they see as Moscow's deliberate attempts to obscure the reality about what happened.
After a painstaking investigation spanning years, an international team of investigators and prosecutors this past year named four suspects: Russians Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy and Oleg Pulatov and also Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko. More suspects could face costs as the investigations continue.
Under Dutch legislation, the trial may continue even if the suspects don't arrive. One suspect, Pulatov, employed a firm of Dutch lawyers to represent him. The legal professionals engaged declined to comment. He as well had a Russian attorney in courtroom, Steenhuis said.
Russia has constantly denied involvement found in the downing, even after prosecutors alleged that the Buk missile program which destroyed the passenger plane was first transported into Ukraine from the Russian 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade's bottom in Kursk and the launching program was then returned to Russia.In Moscow last week, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused investigators of presuming Russia's guilt.
In a statement, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called the trial "a significant milestone toward accountability for the capturing down of MH17" and the deaths of 298 persons, including 10 Britons.Raab said Russia "must now cooperate fully with this trial relative to UN Security Council Image resolution 2166. There can be no impunity for all those in charge of this appalling crime."
US Secretary of Point out Mike Pompeo welcomed the beginning of the trial and called on Russia "to cease its continuing extreme and destabilizing actions in Ukraine."
The case is a regular Dutch criminal trial with an unprecedented number of victims.At Monday's starting, the judges will need share of the investigation and consider whether further more investigations are essential before deciding how exactly to continue, said legal professional Marieke de Hoon of Amsterdam's Vrije University.
"So, it's a small amount of both is usually both common and extraordinary as well," De Hoon said.Under Dutch law, members of the family are allowed to make victim affect statements and seek reimbursement. Which will likely happen sometime soon after this year.
"For me personally, the main thing (is) maybe there is enough data that the judge can make a summary: Guilty," stated Anton Kotte, who lost 3 family members. "If that's so i quickly will be pleased because I know at that time another level will come to be attacked - a political level will be attacked global in the direction of Russia."
