YouTube has banned an investigative documentary about the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in 2014 from being shown on the eve of the hearing on the matter in the Netherlands, the Ukraina.ru website, a part of the Moscow-based Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency that uploaded the film, reported on Tuesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th November, 2020) YouTube has banned an investigative documentary about the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in 2014 from being shown on the eve of the hearing on the matter in the Netherlands, the Ukraina.ru website, a part of the Moscow-based Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency that uploaded the film, reported on Tuesday.
The movie was an investigation by Ukrainian journalist Andrey Laktionov, who was looking into the possible involvement of the Ukrainian air force in the plane crash. It was handed over to Ukraina.ru by the journalist's friends as he had passed away on June 12 this year.
The investigation zeroed in on the death of Ukrainian pilot Vladislav Voloshin, who was suspected of involvement in the incident and is said to have taken his own life. According to the movie, the circumstances of his death remain unknown as the pilot's body was quickly cremated and the case was officially closed by the Ukrainian authorities.
The film was uploaded on the website's YouTube channel and scheduled to be released on Thursday, on the day the hearing resumes. However, the hosting site's moderators said that the movie violated its guidelines and removed it before the premier. As of now, only a five-minute trailer is available.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down on July 17, 2014, in eastern Ukraine on its way to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam. All 298 people aboard died.
The trial of four suspects Russian nationals Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinsky and Oleg Pulatov, and Ukrainian national Leonid Kharchenko began in March in the Netherlands, but had to be adjourned over the COVID-19 pandemic. The hearings are still underway.
The Joint Investigative Team (JIT), which is looking into the case, believes that the Boeing was shot down with a weapon belonging to a Russian military unit. JIT, headed by the Dutch prosecutors, does not include Russian representatives.
Russia has said that it gave the Netherlands radar data and documents proving that the missile that hit the plane belonged to Ukraine and was launched from the territory controlled by Kiev. However, this information was not taken into account. The Russian Foreign Ministry has called the JIT accusations against Russia one-sided and regrettable.
