New suspects may appear in MH17 case - Bellingcat founder

Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins said this in an interview with Ukrinform.

"Not the beginning of the end, but the end of the beginning," Higgins said, describing the MH17 trial that will begin in March next year.

He noted that he and his team are well aware of the structure that led to the MH17 disaster.

"We don't have the specific names of who pressed the button, and in one sense that's not the most important thing, because they're part of a command and control structure that led them to pressing the button, and that whole structure is culpable to what happened. We've got a very good sense of the structure, and who was responsible for what, and I'm sure the JIT has an even better idea than we do," Higgins said.

He also did not rule out that new suspects may appear in the MH17 case.

"I don't know about witnesses or other details like that, but it's possible more people will be charged before the March 2020 start of the trials. It'll still be a long process, I expect the initial date will be more administrative than anything, and the cases will be presented at a later date," Higgins said.

Bellingcat is known for its investigations into the downing of flight MH17 in Donbas in 2014, as well as the poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the British city of Salisbury and exposing the involvement of Russian secret services in this.

On June 19, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) named three Russians and a Ukrainian involved in the shooting down of flight MH17. The date of the trial was also announced - March 9, 2020.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over Donbas in July 2014. There were 283 passengers and 15 crewmembers on board the plane. All of them died.

The IT said on May 24 that the Buk missile system from which the aircraft was downed belongs to the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces stationed in Kursk.

In May 2018, the Netherlands and Australia officially stated that they hold the Russian state legally responsible for the downing of MH17.

op