The Public Prosecution Service of the Netherlands has said that indictments against four suspects in the case on the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 in Donbas in the summer of 2014 have been issued back on June 19, 2019. The procedure of serving writs of summons is being carried out so that the suspects become aware that they are summoned to court.

A representative of the Public Prosecution Service of the Netherlands, who is in charge of the investigation into the MH17 case, Brechtje van de Moosdijk, gave such an explanation to an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent on Wednesday, while commenting on reports on the issue which have been circulated by the media recently.

"The indictment took place already on June 19, 2019. What happens after the indictment, is that the so called "writ of summons" is issued to the defendants, so that they are aware that they are summoned to court," she said, adding that this procedure takes a while.

"At the court hearing at March 9, 2020 the Netherlands Public Prosecution Service will outline the steps followed to the judges," she said.

As reported, on June 19, 2019, the Public Prosecution Service of the Netherlands made public the names of four suspects in the MH17 case: Igor Girkin, Sergei Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and Leonid Kharchenko.

Recently it became known that two Dutch lawyers will defend Oleg Pulatov in court. No information about defenders of the rest of the suspects has been reported yet.

The trial will start on March 9, 2020 at the Schiphol Judicial Complex regardless of whether the suspects and their defense lawyers will be present or not.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 traveling from Amsterdam (the Netherlands) to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) was downed over Donbas on July 17, 2014. None of the 298 people on board survived the crash.

Later it became known that the plane was downed by a surface-to-air missile fired by a Buk air defense system from the territory uncontrolled by the Ukrainian government.