PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2021) The hearings in the MH17 crash case, during which the relatives of the victims will continue to give statements, resumed on Monday in the Netherlands court.
The hearings are being held in Schiphol near Amsterdam and are broadcast live on the court's website.
Over the week, the court will continue to hear from the relatives of the victims. Over 90 people, in total, from the Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Canada, the US, Germany and the UK are expected to give their testimonies.
Last week, the court heard statements from the families of the crash victims from the Netherlands and Australia, during which they voiced accusations against Russia and called for a more detailed investigation into why Ukraine had failed to close its airspace at the height of the conflict with its breakaway regions.
Additionally, the Dutch prosecutor's office will appear in court on Monday to answer a number questions concerning media reports of witnesses to the attack on MH17 among Russians detained in Minsk in 2020 and an investigation into the alleged transportation of the Buk air defense missile system from Russia to Ukraine.
Earlier in the day, CNN reported, citing unnamed sources, that the US supported with cash and advice last year's operation by Ukrainian security services, which tried to lure, through Belarus, 33 Russians suspected of involvement in events in Donbas. Two of those were allegedly present during the launch of the Buk missile that brought the Malaysian Boeing down, according to the news outlet.
Flight MH17 of Malaysia Airlines crashed on July 17, 2014, in eastern Ukraine while en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam. All 298 people on board, majority of whom were Dutch citizens, were killed. Kiev immediately put blame for the incident on the self-proclaimed republics in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, where the plane was shot down.
The investigation into the MH17 crash has been conducted by Dutch prosecutors and the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT). The international group of investigators claims that the plane was downed by a Buk missile belonging to the Russian armed forces, something Moscow categorically denies.
According to a separate investigation conducted by Russia, the Buk missile involved in the incident belonged to Ukraine.
The trial of four suspects � Russian nationals Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinsky and Oleg Pulatov, and Ukrainian national Leonid Kharchenko � began in March 2020 in the Netherlands. Court hearings on the case have been ongoing since June 8, 2021.
