MH17: 4 Charged With Shooting Down Plane Over Ukraine

From the BBC:

BBC News

For the first time since Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down in July 2014, prosecutors have announced charges against suspects in the case. Three Russians and a Ukrainian have been charged with bringing a missile into the area in eastern Ukraine and with murdering 298 passengers and crew. Passenger flight MH17 was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down over conflict-hit Ukraine. A court case will begin in the Netherlands on 9 March 2020. International arrest warrants have been issued for the four men.

Three Russians including a former Colonel in the FSB and a Ukrainian have been charged.

"The JIT suspects Girkin, Dubinsky, Pulatov and Kharchenko of having played a significant role in the death of 298 innocent civilians," said prosecutor Fred Westerbeke. "The means of evidence these suspicions are based on will be elaborated on during the criminal proceedings, then the judge will pass sentence. The suspects are innocent until the contrary is proven in court." He added that investigators had "evidence showing that Russia provided the missile launcher".

I await the usual Russian apologists coming on here. Seems pretty damming for Russia.

Is this about that plane which was shot down by a Buk 9M38 missile?

It's been years since anything about that was in news.

I'm actually shocked the media had time to talk about any thing other than how horrible Cheeto Jesus allegedly is.

Of course the source is BBC, but still that's the UKs version of CNN.

Awesome article, thanks for sharing something of relevance today.

a reply to: ADVISOR

That's the one. The BBC does give sources and details and seems spot on.

a reply to: ADVISOR

There's been a number of updates over the years. They just don't get a lot of attention because the event in question now happened five years ago.

Unfortunately there's no way these people will actually attend the trial. They'll be found guilty in absentia and then Russia will refuse the extradite. I guess at the very least it gives some sense of closure.

a reply to: Xcalibur254

Not sure about the legal process over there but presumably they will need to present evidence rather than just convict in their absence? Doubt if Russia will agree to extradite them.

a reply to: oldcarpy

Based on just the evidence available to the public, I think a conviction is pretty much guaranteed. Especially if the accused don't bother to show up/send representation.

I don't know if the accused will show up, quite reasonable to consider they wont.

Does make for a good venue for both sides to fight it out. There is a lot at stake and not really sure just how fair such a trial will be with all the shenanigans of the investigation. Is the trial going to be open to the media so everyone can see both sides of the debate on an equal footing? Or are we going to a closed door, tightly controlled trial where the decision has already been made?

Maybe they did do it, I don't know. I do know there are two strong cases in a very politically charged environment. What could go wrong?

a reply to: kwakakev

Based on what happened here in Salisbury with the Novichok thing the Russians will refuse to extradite the accused.

a reply to: oldcarpy

I was thinking that, but MH17 is a lot closer to home form them. They have had a much better chance to do their own investigations into this one compared to the Novichok thing. There is also a lot more at stake with international reputations on the line also. If it is found out that some state department was involved, their toast.

a reply to: oldcarpy

Sadly the trial will bring no closure for the relatives of those who died but it is an important step forward.

sad for the victems of MH17 …. died for an geo-politic game

pleased to know that over 75 years all related documents will be public...

A trial would be a legal minefield in itself. There is a decent legal argument for the Dutch prosecution efforts being illegitimate.
The downing over the airliner happened during a time of armed conflict. Regardless of what one thinks of the politics in this particular case, actions by belligerent parties need to be on the basis of international law relating to armed conflict, not domestic criminal law.

Could the Dutch successfully prosecute them under international law?
Not really. The simply fact is, the death of civilians during an armed conflict does not in itself constitute a war crime. In this case the Dutch would need to prove that the Russians/Rebels/whoever knew their target was a civilian airliner and attacked it intentionally.
Good luck with that.
And no you cant get them for negligence eiter. Its simply not a thing under international law.

Politics aside, i never understood the hysterics over this on both sides. Yes it was horrible, tragic and regrettable. But its war, mistakes happen and theres nothing to be done about it. At the time the Rebels simply should have owned up to it. A simple 'We mistook the target for a military target, we regret the loss of innocent life' would have been sufficient.

There are a few unanswered questions from that event , who ordered the flight diverted 200 miles from the original course

www.zerohedge.com...

originally posted by: oldcarpy
Based on what happened here in Salisbury with the Novichok thing the Russians will refuse to extradite the accused.

It's not just refusing to extradite. The Russian will ridicule, frustrate and distract. The lengths the Russians went to discredit MH17, first the tragedy and then the subsequent investigation, is a case study. They will concoct some additional silliness and reinvent some already debunked theories.

originally posted by: stonerwilliam
There are a few unanswered questions from that event , who ordered the flight diverted 200 miles from the original course

That's simply untrue. These are not "unanswered questions". Go and read the Dutch Safety Board report Oct 2015

Anyway here's a debunking of what you stated... With a moving image

originally posted by: stonerwilliam
There are a few unanswered questions from that event , who ordered the flight diverted 200 miles from the original course

www.zerohedge.com...

This is non-sense. MH17 was not diverted such a distance. It was the crew of MH17 that requested the change of course due to weather and the deviation was only 20 miles.

The Russians agreed with the MH17 flight path and signed off on the preliminary MH17 report.

According to the flight plan, flight MH17, would initially fly at Flight Level 330 (FL330) above Ukraine until the waypoint PEKIT, then climb to flight level 350.

At 12.53 hrs MH17 was asked if it could climb to flight level 350 in accordance with the filed flight plan, but they replied that they were unable to comply and requested to maintain at flight level 330. This change of plan was agreed, and other aircraft in the area were told to climb to flight level 350 to avoid a potential separation conflict with MH17.

The crew of MH17 asked to divert the flight path by 20 nautical miles due to bad weather they could see on their route. MH17 then asked if flight level 340 was available. They were told that it was not available due to the other civilian aircraft being assigned heights in order to deconflict with MH17. That is why MH17 continued on its altitude of 33,000 feet.


See page 11 of 34 2.1 History of the flight.

MH17 report