SCHIPHOL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th November, 2022) Many people want to know why Ukraine did not close the sky over the Donbas conflict zone at the time of the 2014 MH17 plane crash, which killed 298 people, Dutch lawyer Boudewijn van Eyck, representing interests of defendant Oleg Pulatov, told RIA Novosti.
According to the lawyer, this is a very important issue, but the defense was unable to use it as an argument in the case due to the lack of information. Despite this, the topic itself has not lost its relevance, as people still want to know what exactly led to the deadly accident, van Eyck added.
Earlier in the day, the Hague district court found Russian citizens Igor Girkin and Sergei Dubinsky and Ukrainian citizen Leonid Kharchenko guilty of the MH17 plane crash and sentenced them to life imprisonment in absentia. At the same same, Russian citizen Pulatov was found innocent and exempt from liability for compensation claims, while the three accused will have to pay relatives of the victims a total of $16 million.
The court did not establish Russia's involvement in the plane crash, though mentioned that Moscow had already controlled the Donetsk People's Republic to some extent in 2014 when the incident took place.
The MH17 passenger flight from Amsterdam to Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur crashed near the city of Donetsk on July 17, 2014. All 298 passengers and crew members were killed.
The Dutch-led international Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which does not include Russia, has suggested that the aircraft was shot by a Russian-made Buk missile originating from a military brigade stationed in the Russian city of Kursk. The Russian Foreign Ministry has said that the JIT allegations of Russia's links to the crash are groundless, adding that the investigation is biased and one-sided.
Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolay Vinnichenko has told Sputnik that Moscow handed over to the Netherlands not only radar data but also documentation proving that the Buk missile belonged to Ukraine and was launched from the Kiev-controlled territory. However, investigators ignored this information, according to Vinnichenko.
