Ninth court hearing in MH17 trial begins in Netherlands

Judges, prosecutors, lawyers, relatives of the victims, and journalists are present in the courtroom. Everyone observes mandatory social distancing rules due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Today, Dutch prosecutors have to answer the questions and inquiries filed by lawyers of suspect Pulatov - Lieutenant Colonel of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces - who expressed a desire to join the trial. His interests are represented by lawyers Sabine Ten Doesschate and Boudewijn van Eijck from the Sjöcrona Van Stigt law firm.

As reported, the lawyers of Oleg Pulatov insist that the investigation is not completed. The defense also stated that it could not be ruled out that MH17 "could have been shot down by the Ukrainian military."

Pulatov’s lawyers also stated that the investigation ignored the opinion of Russian experts, including representatives of the Russian concern "Almaz-Antey". They demanded that about 100 witnesses and experts be questioned and said they saw the need for further investigation.

On June 8, 2020, the second block of court hearings in the MH17 trial began. Prosecutors revealed details of the investigation in the courtroom.

The number of people present in the courtroom is limited due to the coronavirus quarantine restrictions. All court proceedings of the MH17 trial are live streamed.

 In March this year, the District Court of The Hague began the consideration of the case of the downing of flight MH17 in the sky over Donbas.

On June 19, 2019, the international Joint Investigation Team named four suspects believed to be involved in the transportation and combat use of the Buk missile system, from which MH17 flight had been downed. Three of them are Russians: Igor Girkin (Strelkov), former colonel in Russia's FSB intelligence service and former so-called defense minister of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic"; Sergey Dubinskiy, general (at the time of downing – colonel) of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and head of the so-called "Main Intelligence Directorate of the Donetsk People’s Republic"; Oleg Pulatov, lieutenant colonel of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. The fourth suspect is Leonid Kharchenko, a Ukrainian civilian, who fought on the side of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic."

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over conflict-hit Donbas in July 2014. There were 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board. All of them died. The JIT reported that the plane had been shot down from a Buk missile system that belongs to the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces stationed in Kursk.

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