The court is ‘surprised’ that the Public Prosecution Service put part of the MH17 file online last month. Anyone can go through the specially made website browse process documents. The judges say they were notified less than an hour prior to publication, leaving them with a “faited fact”. The lawyers of suspect Oleg Pulatov are also angry.
Today there is another session in the MH17 case that has been going on for years in the Judicial Complex at Schiphol.
The lawyers of Oleg Pulatov, the only one of the four suspects to be assisted, oppose the publication of the website with the procedural documents. “The website starts with the button ‘start the story’, after which people can browse through the pieces that are called ‘evidence’ by the Public Prosecution Service. If anything, it’s potential evidence,” the defense said. The defense believes that the Public Prosecution Service has shaped public opinion, which violates Pulatov’s right to a fair trial.
The judges today ruled that publication of the website was irreversible when the court learned of it. The court is ‘surprised’ because only recently it had been decided to give certain documents from the file to the next of kin. Thanks to the website, those documents are now publicly available to everyone.
Ukraine
Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down on July 17, 2014 in eastern Ukraine, where an armed battle was also going on at the time. The aircraft was en route from Schiphol to the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. All 298 on board were killed in the disaster.
According to the OM, pro-Russian separatists are responsible for deploying the Buk missile that brought down the plane. They may not have realized that it was a passenger flight, the Public Prosecution Service thinks. Rebel leader Igor Girkin, his right-hand man Sergei Dubinsky and garrison commander Leonid Chartshenko are on trial alongside Pulatov. They are three Russians and a Ukrainian. According to the Public Prosecution Service, the men played a role in bringing in or removing the Buk missile installation. Pulatov is the only suspect to be assisted. The foursome have been sentenced to life imprisonment.
Pronunciation
Last month, the Public Prosecution Service rejected the alternative scenarios proposed by the lawyers for the shooting down of MH17. For example, the prosecutors found a cited investigation about the firing location of the Buk missile not expertly conducted. The defense can respond to this on Thursday and Friday. A ruling in the case is expected in November at the earliest.
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