MH17 trial: Identity of 12 witnesses to be concealed

24.04.2020 13:32

Ukrinform

The District Court of The Hague has ruled that the identity of 12 witnesses in MH17 trial will be concealed, while a corresponding status of the thirteenth witness has been dismissed, an Ukrinform correspondent reports from The Hague.

“The examining magistrate had also arrived at the decision in a proper manner in respect of 12 witnesses. The District Court held, however, that this was not the case in respect of one witness,” reads the decision on appeal concerning threatened witnesses posted on website of MH17 trial.

This decision means that the identity of twelve witnesses will continue to be concealed, while the threatened witness status of the thirteenth witness has been dismissed. Therefore, the testimonies given by him cannot be used in court.

The defense team of one of the four suspects – Oleg Pulatov, lieutenant colonel of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces – challenged the decision to guarantee 13 people the threatened witness status and anonymity.

As reported, the hearings in the MH17 criminal proceedings took place on March 9, 10, and 23, 2020. The next hearing will be held on June 8.

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.

In May 2018, the Netherlands and Australia formally accused Russia of being responsible for the downing of the Malaysia Airlines passenger jet.

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.”