The hearings in the 2014 MH17 crash case will resume on June 8 in the Dutch Schiphol Judicial Complex near Amsterdam, with a limited attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the district court in The Hague said on Friday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st May, 2020) The hearings in the 2014 MH17 crash case will resume on June 8 in the Dutch Schiphol Judicial Complex near Amsterdam, with a limited attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the district court in The Hague said on Friday.
"As scheduled, the MH17 criminal case will resume on Monday, 8 June next. However, due to the coronavirus and the related national guidelines, adjustments will [be] made for the upcoming block of court hearings. The upshot of this is that only a limited number of people will be able to attend the hearings at the Schiphol Judicial Complex (JCS)," the court said in a statement, adding that there would be a live stream available.
People with mild cold symptoms will be prevented from entering the Schiphol building and the press center will be closed. All those present will have to keep a distance of 1.5 meters from each other, the statement added.
"The courtroom has been reserved in June 2020 from Monday, 8 June to Friday, 3 July 2020. It is not yet known whether the court will sit every day. Circumstances may require that hearings be shortened, re-scheduled, suspended or even cancelled," the court noted.
The hearings in the case of the MH17 crash in eastern Ukraine were held at the Schiphol Judicial Complex on March 9-10. Russian nationals Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinsky and Oleg Pulatov, and Ukrainian national Leonid Kharchenko are defendants in absentia.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was brought down on July 17, 2014, in eastern Ukraine en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people aboard died. The accident was subsequently investigated by Dutch prosecutors and the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT).
Moscow has repeatedly denied involvement in the incident and has called the JIT investigation biased, as Russia's evidence, including radar data showing that the plane had been shot down by a Ukrainian Buk missile, has been ignored by investigators.
