Dutch to Try Suspects in ’14 Downing of Malaysia Airlines Jet Over Ukraine
By ANDREW E. KRAMERJULY 5, 2017
KIEV, Ukraine — An international team of prosecutors investigating the downing of a civilian airliner over Ukraine three
years ago has decided to try the suspects in a Dutch court, the Dutch Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
The group concluded last year that the powerful surface-to-air missile system used to shoot down the airplane — killing all 298 people aboard Malaysia Airlines
Flight 17 bound for Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital, from Amsterdam — came from Russian territory and was returned to Russia after afterward.
Dutch said that have now decided that the suspects should be prosecuted in the Netherlands, a process that will be rooted in on
Any criminal indictments in a Dutch court are likely only to open a long legal
and diplomatic standoff between the Netherlands and Russia, as the Russian Constitution prohibits the extradition of its citizens to stand trial abroad.
That seemed to strongly implicate the Russian government, as it is unlikely
that anyone not connected with the military would have been able to deploy the missile launcher, called a Buk or SA-11, from Russia into a neighboring country.