Presiding judge Hendrik Steenhuis sits at the centre of a panel at the start of the trial of four men charged with murder over the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 on March 9, 2020, in Amsterdam.Three Russians and a Ukrainian went on trial in absentia in the Dutch capital on Monday charged with murder in the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in 2014, killing all 298 passengers and crew.
Prosecutors say the suspects helped arrange the Russian missile system used to shoot down MH17, a civilian aircraft, on July 17, 2014, over territory held by pro-Moscow rebels fighting Ukrainian government forces in eastern Ukraine.“Many people have long waited for this day,” presiding Judge Hendrik Steenhuis said in opening remarks. “This tragic loss of so many lives has touched many all over the world.
The defendants, Russians Sergey Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and Igor Girkin and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko, had senior positions in the pro-Russian militias in eastern Ukraine in 2014.