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Judge says downing of MH17 ‘almost incomprehensible’ as murder trial begins

epa08256018 (FILE) - Delegates and supporters from the Aids 2014 conference hold a candlelight vigil in Federation square to remember their colleagues who were killed in the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 while traveling to the conference, in Melbourne, Australia, 22 July 2014. The District Court in The Hague on 09 March 2020 is due to start a trial against four people believed of being involved in the shooting down of a civil Boeing 777 plane over Ukraine on 17 July 2014. Dutch prosecutors charge three people with Russian citizenship and a Ukrainian national over the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur in which 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board were killed. Most of the victims were Dutch, Malaysian and Australian nationals. A Joint Investigation Team (JIT) from Belgium, Ukraine, Australia and Malaysia in their report came to the conclusion that a Russian-made BUK missile that hit the plane was fired from territory controlled by pro-Russian rebels. Russia has denied any responsibility for the downing and blamed Ukraine for the tragedy. It is not expected that the four accused will attend the trial as Russian law would prohibit their extradition. EPA-EFE/DAVID CROSLING AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT

AMSTERDAM, March 9 (Reuters) - Three Russians and a Ukrainian went on trial in absentia in the Dutch capital on Monday charged with murder in the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in 2014, killing all 298 passengers and crew.

The plane was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was hit by a surface-to-air missile. There were no survivors.

Prosecutors say the suspects helped arrange the Russian missile system used to shoot down MH17, a civilian aircraft, on July 17, 2014, over territory held by pro-Moscow rebels fighting Ukrainian government forces in eastern Ukraine.

The suspects, still at large, are believed to be in Russia.

“Many people have long waited for this day,” presiding Judge Hendrik Steenhuis said in opening remarks. “This tragic loss of so many lives has touched many all over the world.

“The court wants to say it realises the impact of the loss of so many human lives and that the way it happened was almost incomprehensible.”

The defendants, Russians Sergey Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and Igor Girkin and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko, had senior positions in the pro-Russian militias in eastern Ukraine in 2014.

The judges’ first order of business was to verify whether the suspects had appointed lawyers to defend them and to lay out a timetable for the case to proceed.

The aircraft’s downing led to sanctions against Russia by the European Union. It also heightened tension between Russia and Western powers who blame it for the disaster, which killed 196 Dutch, 43 Malaysian and 27 Australian nationals, among others. (Reporting by Anthony Deutsch, Stephanie van den Berg and Toby Sterling; Editing by Alison Williams and Nick Macfie)

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