Judges to rule in murder trial for 2014 downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine

Four Russian-linked men are being tried in the Netherlands for mass murder in relation to their alleged involvement in the Malaysia Airlines disaster.

MH17 was a passenger plane that crashed over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014. All 298 passengers and their crew were killed.

The area was the scene for fighting between pro-Russian separatist forces and Ukrainian forces at the time. This was the prelude to this year's conflict.

Representatives of victims say that the ruling will mark a significant milestone. However, the suspects remain fugitives and face life sentences. All of them are believed to be in Russia and will not be extradited.

Moscow denies any responsibility or involvement in the downing of MH17. In 2014, it also denied any presence within Ukraine.

Prosecutors claim that the three suspects are former Russian intelligence officers and a Ukrainian separatist leader who helped to transport and arrange for a Russian army BUK missile into Ukraine, which was used to bring down the plane.

In a Dutch court, they were charged with the shooting down of an aircraft and murder. If the Hague District Court finds that the act was not premeditated, they could be charged with manslaughter.

The evidence against the men was based on phone call intercepts, which suggested that they believed they were targeting an Ukrainian fighter jet.

Three of the four men were tried in absentia, while the fourth pleaded guilty through lawyers he hired. None of the men attended the trial.

The victims of MH17 were from 10 countries. They were on their way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. More than half of the victims were Dutch.

The Netherlands led the investigation, and Australia, Malaysia, Australia, and Belgium participated.

Russians Sergey Dubinskiy and Oleg Pulatov are the suspects; Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko is also among them.

Share this article: