Four fugitive suspects go on trial in the Netherlands on Monday charged with the murder of 298 passengers and crew aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 which was shot down with a Russian-made missile over eastern Ukraine in July 2014.
Arrest warrants were issued last year for three Russians and a Ukrainian who were identified by a Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team which spent several years collecting evidence to identify those behind the attack. The defendants are at large and are not expected to show up for the hearings at a high-security courtroom near Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport where they will be prosecuted under Dutch law.
Russia has consistently denied any involvement or providing financial or military support to pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine. The aircraft’s downing led to sanctions against Moscow by the European Union. It also heightened political tension between Russia and Western powers who blame it for the disaster, which killed 193 Dutch, 43 Malaysian and 27 Australian nationals, among others.
Intercepts released in November by the JIT showed that two of the suspects had been in contact with Vladislav Surkov, a senior Putin aide, and Sergey Aksyonov, a Russian-appointed leader in Russian-annexed Crimea., it said.