The District Court of The Hague resumes hearings on the case of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, which was downed on July 17, 2014 in the sky over Donbas, the participants in the process will discuss the issue of how to consider the case on the merits from June 7, 2014.

According to the court's press service, it is expected that the court will briefly inform about the issues considered at the last hearing, which took place on November 25, 2020, and talk about the events that have occurred since then. "On November 25, the pretrial stage (consideration of the case) was completed, hearings on the merits are approaching," the court said.

During the last hearing, on some of the defense motions of one of the accused, Russian Oleg Pulatov, the court decided to conduct additional investigations, the execution of which is entrusted to the investigating judge. "The approved investigations must be started and completed. The court does not consider it necessary to complete all investigations before the start of the hearing on the merits, but it must be clear which of them have not yet been completed and how long they will take," the court said.

Further in the court hearing, the lawyers of the relatives and the lawyers of the accused Pulatov will be invited to speak. There will also be an opportunity to respond to representatives of the prosecutor's office.

Should the prosecution fail to respond on Monday, it is expected that such an opportunity will be provided next Monday, on February 8.

According to the press release, when it comes to criminal proceedings in this case, one should expect "a certain degree of unpredictability." "Court hearings can be shortened, postponed, suspended or even canceled due to developments in the court. The schedule can be adjusted from day to day," the court said.