BRUSSESL – The hearing of the merits of the MH17 case could be scheduled for February 2021, however no specific date has been scheduled yet.
“Because the defense and the counsel for the relatives have said they need more time to prepare, the prosecution suggests scheduling the hearing on the merits of the case for February and March 2021 and giving the relatives the floor in May and June 2021,” reads a statement on the website of the MH17 trial posted on June 26.
The court also said that on June 26 the prosecution responded to the investigation requests from the defense team of one of defendants, Oleg Pulatov, and has proposed that the court reject most of the investigation requests.
“The prosecution, however, suggest that a single additional investigation be conducted by appointing experts. The prosecution also supports the request to examine a limited number of witnesses and is willing to answer additional questions from the defense, for example about telecom data,” it said.
In their response, Pulatov’s defense informed the prosecution about the right to examine witnesses and submit investigation requests, except if the defense has no reasonable interest in them.
“The defense persists in many of their investigation requests and believes that the investigation was incomplete,” reads the statement.
It is expected that on July 3 the court will decide which requests from the defense, the prosecution and the counsel for the relatives shall be granted and which rejected.
“All this serves to prepare to deal with the substance of the case. When the case is to be heard on the merits has not been determined yet,” the court said.
