Anonymity Of MH17 Case Witnesses Raises Doubts About Openness Of Trial - Moscow

Anonymity of MH17 Case Witnesses Raises Doubts About Openness of Trial - Moscow

The ruling of a Dutch court on the anonymity of witnesses in the case of the MH17 flight crash in eastern Ukraine in 2014 raises doubts about the openness of the trial, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th April, 2020) The ruling of a Dutch court on the anonymity of witnesses in the case of the MH17 flight crash in eastern Ukraine in 2014 raises doubts about the openness of the trial, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

Last week, the district court in The Hague allowed 12 out of 13 witnesses to testify anonymously in the hearing on the 2014 MH17 crash as they were considered to be under threat if their identities would be known. One of the 13 appeals to keep anonymity was denied. According to the court, the reason for the denial was that the suspect did not have the opportunity to comment on the case, which is necessary for the investigative judge to make a ruling on whether the witness is under threat or not.

"To achieve justice, it is important that the trial be truly open and within the legal framework, that the hearings fully take into account the arguments of all parties, and not just the arguments of the prosecution. As far as we understand, it was decided to make the process independent and impartial public hearings. ... Does this ruling on the status of witnesses in this case meet the stated criteria? We doubt it," Zakharova said at a briefing.

She also recalled that Russia had not been participating in this lawsuit, but since the charges were brought against three Russian citizens, Moscow is closely monitoring what is happening during the trial and whether the rights of the accused are violated.

Russian nationals Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinsky and Oleg Pulatov, and Ukrainian national Leonid Kharchenko are the defendants in the case. Pulatov is represented by an international group, uniting two Dutch lawyers and one Russian lawyer, while the others are tried in absentia. The hearings are scheduled to resume on June 8.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crashed on July 17, 2014, in eastern Ukraine while en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam. All 298 people on board died. Kiev and the self-proclaimed republics in Ukraine's east have exchanged blame for the downing of the plane. The accident is being investigated by Dutch prosecutors and the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT). They have claimed that the plane had been downed by a Buk missile that belonged to the Russian armed forces. Moscow has repeatedly denied involvement in the incident and has called the JIT investigation biased, as Russia's evidence has been ignored by investigators.