MH17 inquiry: 'Strong indications' Putin OK'd missile supply
International investigators found โstrong indicationsโ Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the supply of heavy anti-aircraft weapons to Ukrainian separatists who shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 with a Russian missile in 2014.
Prosecutors begin explaining indictment at MH17 trial
Prosecutors are explaining evidence and their indictment to judges in the murder trial of three Russians and a Ukrainian charged with involvement in downing Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014, killing all 298 passengers and crew.
Lawyer: Russian suspect denies involvement in downing MH17
Prosecutors say the plane was shot down by a Buk missile fired from territory in conflict-hit Ukraine controlled by pro-Russia rebels. They alleged the missile was trucked into Ukraine from a Russian base and the launcher was sent back after the plane was shot down. โOur client has told us that he was not engaged in ordering, guarding, transporting and hiding of a Buk missile ... instructing the crew thereof, firing or ordering to fire a Buk missile and/or downing MH17," Ten Doesschate said. She added that Pulatov "does not have personal knowledge of how and why MH17 was downed. After a years-long international investigation, prosecutors last year named four suspects in the downing of flight MH17: Russians Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy and Pulatov as well as Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko.
Lawyer: Families of MH17 victims want reparation for damages
Judges and lawyers representing relatives of the 298 people killed are expected to discuss the issue of compensation. (Piroschka van de Wouw/Pool photo via AP)SCHIPHOL A lawyer for relatives of victims killed when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014 told trial judges Monday that the families want damages as a recognition of the injustice they suffered and told judges that Russian disinformation compounds their grief. Some families watched Schijns speak from a public gallery in the court on the edge of the airport from where the doomed flight took off. Prosecutors allege that the missile that downed flight MH17 was trucked into Ukraine from a Russian military base. In addition to the grief they face because of the loss of their dearest, they are additionally injured by Russias attitude, she told judges.
Defense lawyers seek more investigations into MH17 downing
The comments came as Dutch defense lawyers for Oleg Pulatov began listing their requests for further investigations in the international probe into the July 17, 2014, downing of MH17. For that reason it cant be ruled out that evidence went missing, was manipulated or even was augmented, Van Eijck said. It certainly seems that they are extremely attached to the Buk missile scenario, Van Eijck said. She also asked for more investigations into radar images from the day of the downing. That does not reflect a willingness and a determination to uncover the truth, Van Eijck said.
Film director Oleg Sentsov and MH17 suspect freed
The return of 35 Ukranian prisoners and 35 Russian prisoners is a move that could ease tensions between the two countries after Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014. "Today we can finally say safely that the mutual return of Ukrainian and Russian citizens has been conducted," Russian Human Rights Ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova said, Russian state news agency TASS reported Saturday. After landing in Kiev, the Ukrainian prisoners were seen greeting and hugging their emotional family members on the runway. Vyshinsky considered the accusations against him a lie and a form of manipulation, according to Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti. Before the exchange, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said it would be a "good step forward towards the normalization" of relations between the two nations, Reuters reported.