Five years after the crash of flight MH17 in Ukraine shot down by a Russian missile, the trial will open on Monday in the Netherlands, despite the absence of the four men accused of having caused the explosion of the aircraft.
On July 17, 2014, the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 departing from Amsterdam for Kuala Lumpur was hit in mid-flight by a Soviet-designed BUK missile over the area of armed conflict with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. The 298 passengers, including 196 Dutch, died.
The four accused tried in absentia
The Russians Sergei Dubinsky, Igor Guirkin and Oleg Poulatov, as well as the Ukrainian Leonid Khartchenko, four high ranks of pro-Russian separatists from eastern Ukraine, are being prosecuted for murder and for deliberately causing the crash of the plane. The first suspects to be charged in this case, they are accused by the Dutch prosecution of having conveyed the anti-aircraft missile system BUK, before it was fired by other people still unidentified.
Russia and Ukraine do not extradite their nationals prosecuted abroad, the four men are not expected at the hearings which will begin Monday at 10 am at the court of Schiphol, in the suburbs of Amsterdam, a stone's throw from the airport from which the Boeing had taken off. They are therefore tried in absentia. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Friday that the court's work is "completely independent". The trial, which is expected to last more than a year, "is a very important step in reaching the truth but also justice for the victims and their families," said Mark Rutte.
Russia denounces "accusatory bias"
The international team of investigators, led by the Netherlands, established in May 2018 that the plane had been shot down by a missile from the 53rd Russian anti-aircraft brigade based in Kursk (south-west). Following these revelations, the Netherlands and Australia, including 38 nationals who perished in the tragedy, openly blamed the deaths of their nationals on Russia. Moscow has always vehemently denied any involvement in the crash, and blamed the blame on Kiev. Russian diplomacy spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Friday accused the Netherlands of trying to "put pressure on the Dutch court", citing a "media campaign characterized by an accusatory bias towards Russia".
"In the last days before the hearings, everything was done to fill the gaps in the evidence presented and to camouflage the falsification of the facts in this version decided in advance," she lambasted. The four accused face life imprisonment. The best known of them, Igor Guirkin, nicknamed "Strelkov" ("Shooter"), was one of the main commanders of the separatists of the beginning of the conflict against the Ukrainian army five years ago, and probably representing their more media at the time. He denies any involvement of pro-Russian Ukrainian separatists in the tragedy.
"Close ties" between suspects and senior Russian officials
Experts say the first week of hearings should focus primarily on administrative matters rather than the presentation of testimony and evidence. Despite an empty dock, this trial represents a strong symbol for the relatives of the victims. "It is very important that the first four suspects are brought to trial," said Piet Ploeg, president of a Dutch victims' association, who lost his brother, sister-in-law and nephew in the disaster.
Investigators responsible for shedding light on the explosion of the aircraft from flight MH17 are still trying to identify the people who triggered the launch of the missile, not ruling out further charges in the future. In particular, they unveiled in mid-November the content of telephone conversations revealing "close ties" between the suspects and senior Russian officials, including Vladislav Sourkov, an influential adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the Russian Defense Minister. , Sergei Choïgou.
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