After nearly six years, a Dutch court will finally try four Kremlin-linked suspects in the case of a passenger plane that was shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014, killing all 298 people onboard.
The Joint Investigation Team led by Dutch prosecutors spent years collecting evidence before issuing criminal warrants in June 2019. All the suspects were combatants involved in Russia’s war against Ukraine with links to Russian intelligence services.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) was traveling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014, when a missile fired from Ukrainian territory controlled by Russian-backed militants struck the aircraft. Two-thirds of the victims were Dutch nationals.
Investigators say they have proof that the missile used to shoot down the plane was launched from a Russian-controlled military base in Donetsk Oblast and transported from a base in Russia. That conclusion has been corroborated by the EU and Ukraine’s security services. Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement in the crash.
A gunman from Russia-backed military forces stands guard near the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash site in eastern Ukraine on Nov. 10, 2014. (AFP)
Igor Girkin, a former colonel of Russia’s FSB security agency who was appointed the militants’ minister of defense in Donetsk, is charged with obtaining the Buk missile system from Russia that was used to shoot down the plane.
Three of Girkin’s deputies are also charged in the case. Sergei Dubinsky headed Russia’s military intelligence unit in Donetsk and is charged with ordering the Buk missiles moved to support Russia-backed fighters. Oleg Pulatov, a deputy of Dubinsky, is accused of escorting that missile system to Donetsk on Dubinsky’s orders.
Leonid Kharchenko, a Ukrainian national who went by the codename “Krot,” or mole, commanded a Russian-backed military unit in eastern Ukraine and is also accused of handling and escorting the missile system.
The four men were sent summonses to appear in the Dutch court, but the likelihood that they will testify or serve jail time on the charges is low. Russia does not extradite its citizens, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has framed the investigation as a farce designed to “discredit Russia in the eyes of the international community.”
Ukraine has called the downing of MH17 an act of terrorism and is assisting Dutch investigators. Gunduz Mamedov, who heads Ukraine’s investigation team, has said the case is a key priority for national law enforcement agencies.
The court has reserved 25 weeks for the trial, which will include testimony from victims’ family members and continue until 2021.
In 2020, the court dates are March 9-13, March 23-27, June 8-July 3 and Aug. 31-Nov. 13. The court will also hear the case in 2021 from Feb. 1 through March 26.
