KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th February, 2022) Ukraine expects that the Hague court will announce its verdict in the 2014 MH17 plane crash case by the end of 2022, Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova said on Friday.
"The MH17 case is very important for Ukraine and the entire civilized world. It is a marker of the success of world justice, and we hope that by the end of this year the world community will receive a fair verdict from the Hague District Court in the case of four suspects in the downing of the aircraft in question," Venediktova was quoted as saying in a statement following a meeting with Titus Corlatean, rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
Corlatean noted the progress in the case, adding that he received useful information during the meeting with Venediktova, following his visit to the Netherlands to consult on the case. PACE cooperates with all parties in the investigation to work out an objective final report and relevant recommendations, he said.
Last year, Venediktova was appointed to lead the national composition of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in the MH17 case. Ukraine's group includes four members of the Prosecutor's Office and 12 investigators.
The trial regarding the MH17 crash began on March 9, 2020, in the Netherlands. The defendants in the case are Russian citizens Igor Girkin, Sergei Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov, and Ukrainian Igor Kharchenko. Pulatov is represented at the court by an international group, while the other suspects are being tried in absentia. The trial on the merits started on June 8, 2021.
The MH17 flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed near the city of Donetsk on July 17, 2014. All 298 passengers and crew members were killed. The interim conclusions presented by the Dutch-led JIT, which does not include Russia, suggested that the plane was downed by a Russian-made Buk missile originating with a military brigade stationed in the Russian city of Kursk.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the JIT allegations of Russia's ties to the crash were groundless, adding that the investigation was biased and one-sided.�
