Contents tagged with MH17

  • Girkin's interview with Gordon to be included in MH17 trial materials

    The court in the Netherlands in the case of the downed Boeing flight MH17 over the Donbas in 2014 intends to include into the case materials an interview of one of the former commanders of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, Igor Girkin, with Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Gordon, reports Deutsche Welle, citing the presiding judge, Hendrik Steenhuis.

    This is an interview that Gordon posted on his YouTube channel on May 18.

    In a nearly four-hour conversation with the journalist, Girkin …

  • MH17 trial resumes in the Netherlands

    On Monday, June 8, the court hearings in the case of the flight MH17 downed over the Donbas have resumed in the Netherlands.

    "As planned, the criminal case of MH17 will resume on Monday, June 8. However, due to the current coronavirus and relevant national guidelines, the court hearing block has been amended to allow a limited number of people to attend the courtroom at Schiphol Judicial Complex. Naturally, everyone can follow the hearings live," the court said in a statement.

    In addition to …

  • DPR detains defendant in MH17 downing case

    Leonid Kharchenko,the defendant in the case of the Boeing 777 flight MH17, has been detained in Donetsk , reported BBC with reference to a fellow militant and another source who was involved in DPR military command.

    DPR authorities detained Kharchenko near his home on March 11, two days after the Dutch court charged him with involvement in the MH17 disaster. However, according to BBC, Kharchenko's detention and subsequent arrest are connected with another criminal case.

    A co-worker of the …

  • Media names chief suspect in downing of Boeing MH17 over Donbas

    Investigators of The Insider, Bellingcat and the BBC have identified one of the key defendants in the case of the crash of the Malaysian Boeing 777 over Donbas. Journalists claim that a high-ranking FSB official under investigation of the International Investigation Team (JIT) with the name "Vladimir Ivanovich" is Colonel-General Andrei Burlaka, deputy head of the Russian FSB border service.

    In November 2019, JIT published telephone conversations in which representatives of the self-proclaimed …

  • MH17 court asks prosecution to confirm whether U.S. has satellite data showing Buk missile launch

    The court in the case of the crash of flight MH17 in the Donbas has asked the prosecution to confirm whether the U.S. has satellite images showing the launch of a Buk missile, which could have shot down the airliner, reports Interfax-Ukraine.

    The request was made by the Head judge Hendrik Steenhuis during the day-long hearing.

    "The documents presented during the discussion, which took place as part of the parliamentary committee round table on January 22, 2016, say that the U.S. has …

  • MH17 crash trial: Russia was planning to send three Buk missile systems to Donbas but only one made it

    Russia sent two Buk anti-aircraft missile systems to the territory of Ukraine and planned to send a third one, Ukrinform reported, citing Eliot Higgins, founder of the international investigative group Bellingcat.

    "The first Buk arrived a few days before MH17 was shot down, but it broke down and had to be sent back to Russia. Then Russia tried to send two more on the night of July 17, but only one missile systems crossed the border, because there were not enough trucks to transport the other …

  • Lawyer of families of MH17 crash victims: Permission to send Buk missile system from Russia to Ukraine was given by Putin

    The Buk surface-to-air missile system from which the Malaysian Boeing 777 flight MH17 was shot down could not have been removed from Russia without the permission of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said the lawyer of relatives of the MH17 crash victims, Jerry Skinner, in a comment to Deutsche Welle.

    In his opinion, during the court hearings in the Netherlands, the public will hear the names of advisers close to Putin, and probably, the Russian president himself will be mentioned.

    "I don't …

  • MH17 crash trial: Russian special services were near Buk missile launcher when airliner was shot down

    Russian special services, presumably the FSB, were near the Buk missile launcher, from which the Boeing MH17 was shot down over the Donbas, said Dutch prosecutor Dedy Woei-a-Tsoi at the court hearing in the case of the Boeing MH17 air disaster, RIA Novosti reports.

    The prosecutor referred to a witness who was classified under the code name M58. Presumably, he is a former fighter of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. According to the witness, the Buk crew spoke "with a Russian …

  • MH17 crash trial: Russia intimidates witnesses in attempt to disrupt court hearing in the Hague

    Russia is trying to find and intimidate witnesses in the case of the crash of Malaysian Boeing in the Donbas, the hearings of which began in The Hague, reports Novaya Gazeta with reference to a statement by Dutch State Prosecutor Thijs Berger.

    "The use of special services to try to reveal the identity of witnesses is a real scenario. Their agents have the ability to intercept messages and track people's movements," Berger said, adding that there were attempts by "GRU agents" to hack into the …

  • MH17 defendants face life in prison

    The maximum penalty for the defendants in the case of the crash of Malaysian Boeing MH17 in the Donbass in July 2014 is life imprisonment, said the representative of the Dutch prosecutor's office, Digna van Butzelar, as quoted by UNN news agency.

    The four suspects are charged with two counts: the downing of flight MH17, which resulted in the deaths of all persons on board (Article 168 of the Netherlands Criminal Code), and the murder of 298 people on board flight MH17 (Article 289 of the …