11:22 28.09.2020

Hearings on MH17 downing resume in the Netherlands

2 min read
Hearings on MH17 downing resume in the Netherlands

 Within the framework of the third block "B," the trial on the case of the downed MH17 has resumed in the Netherlands. The court intends to hear the progress of the defense of one of the accused, Oleg Pulatov, after their alleged meeting in Russia.

During the previous meeting, which took place on August 31, Pulatov's defense informed that there was no opportunity to hold a personal meeting with him on the territory of Russia due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, plane tickets have already been booked, and in the near future the lawyers will go to Russia to meet with their client.

In addition, representatives of the relatives of the victims spoke at this meeting.

Despite the fact that the duration of the previous block of hearings was announced for the period from August 31 to September 4, the court sat for only one day, after which a recess was announced. A similar warning has been issued with regard to the current hearings, the duration of which is announced until October 2.

The hearings are being held in the absence of all four accused - three Russians - Pulatov, Igor Girkin (Strelkov), Sergei Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko.

Earlier, during the trial, which took place on June 26, the prosecutor's office provided new tapes of wiretapping of the accused, in particular Kharchenko, Dubinsky and Strelkov, who confirm that Russia-occupation fighters possessed a Buk missile launcher.

After MH17 was shot down, Dubinsky asks Pulatov: "Tell me, did our Buk shoot or not?" To which Pulatov replies: "Buл shot down a Boeing," and a few minutes later, Dubinsky called Girkin with a report that the Buk (missile) shot down a Boeing, and then "ours knocked the plane down with a Buk."

On March 3, 2020 in the Netherlands the trial of four suspects in the downing of the Malaysian airliner MH17 began. The plane was shot down in the skies over Donbas on July 17, 2016, killing 289 people, most of them were citizens of the Netherlands.

In September 2016, the Joint Investigation Group released its findings, according to which the airliner was shot down by a missile launched from a Buk air defense system, and a year ago it announced that the Buk belonged to the Russian 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade stationed in Kursk.

AD
AD
AD
AD
AD