On November 17, the District Court of The Hague will make a preliminary decision in the case of the crash of the Malaysian Boeing MH17 aircraft shot down over the Donbass in 2014, according to the website of the court.
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The decision will take half a day and will probably start in the afternoon. Any changes in the criminal process may affect the date of the preliminary decision.
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Boeing 777 “Malaysian Airlines”, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down on July 17, 2014 in the sky over the Donbass. There were 298 people on board, including 196 Dutch, all killed.
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In May 2018, an international team of investigators (JIT) concluded that the Buk launcher from which the plane was shot down belonged to the 53rd Russian anti-aircraft missile brigade. The investigation team included representatives of several countries, including Ukraine. Russian investigators were not included in it.
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The defendants in the case are one citizen of Ukraine and three Russians, including the former Minister of Defense of the DPR Igor Girkin (Strelkov). They all deny their guilt. In December last year, the Dutch prosecutor’s office requested life sentences for them.
Russian authorities say the missile that shot down the jetliner was deployed to Ukraine during Soviet times and has been there ever since. According to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, there are many “absurdities, outright violations of the principles of impartiality, sweeping obvious facts under the carpet” in the MH17 case. He noted that during the consideration of the case, evidence of the version adhered to by Russia was ignored.
