3 Russians, 1 Ukrainian face murder charges for downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
Arirang News
2019-06-20
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Four people will face prosecution over the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 the plane that crashed in eastern Ukraine five years ago killing all 298 people all board.
For more on this and other news from around the world, let's turn to our Hong Yoo.
So Yoo, a big development the names and nationalities of these suspects have been released.
Tell us more.
A Joint Investigation Team led by Dutch prosecutors has collected enough evidence to show Russia provided the missile launcher used to shoot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014.
Among the four people facing murder charges for the death of the 298 victims are three Russians, Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy and Oleg Pulatov, and one Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko.
Dutch police say they believe all of them are pro-Russian separatist commanders who may have been active members of Russia's military intelligence service at the time.
The rebels had acquired heavy weapons from Russia, according to the Dutch officials.
The chief prosecutor said they were responsible for the shooting even though they did not push the launch button because they arranged the attack.
In contrast to Ukraine, which welcomed the conclusions, Russia continues to deny any involvement and called the findings "unfounded accusations" to discredit Russia.
But the investigators revealed Moscow has not been cooperative in the investigation process.
"One day after 17th of July, they could have been in the position to tell us exactly what happened because they know. I'm sure they know what happened because a Buk TELAR from the 53rd brigade has been used, and they know this, and they didn't give us this information. And I wouldn't call this cooperation."
The Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, and Ukraine participated in the probe questioning over 200 witnesses and reconstructing the plane from fragments collected from the crash site.
Dutch officials have issued international arrest warrants for the four men and their trial will take place on March 9, 2020 in the Netherlands even if they are absent, which is likely since the Russian constitution prohibits extradition.
For more on this and other news from around the world, let's turn to our Hong Yoo.
So Yoo, a big development the names and nationalities of these suspects have been released.
Tell us more.
A Joint Investigation Team led by Dutch prosecutors has collected enough evidence to show Russia provided the missile launcher used to shoot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014.
Among the four people facing murder charges for the death of the 298 victims are three Russians, Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy and Oleg Pulatov, and one Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko.
Dutch police say they believe all of them are pro-Russian separatist commanders who may have been active members of Russia's military intelligence service at the time.
The rebels had acquired heavy weapons from Russia, according to the Dutch officials.
The chief prosecutor said they were responsible for the shooting even though they did not push the launch button because they arranged the attack.
In contrast to Ukraine, which welcomed the conclusions, Russia continues to deny any involvement and called the findings "unfounded accusations" to discredit Russia.
But the investigators revealed Moscow has not been cooperative in the investigation process.
"One day after 17th of July, they could have been in the position to tell us exactly what happened because they know. I'm sure they know what happened because a Buk TELAR from the 53rd brigade has been used, and they know this, and they didn't give us this information. And I wouldn't call this cooperation."
The Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, and Ukraine participated in the probe questioning over 200 witnesses and reconstructing the plane from fragments collected from the crash site.
Dutch officials have issued international arrest warrants for the four men and their trial will take place on March 9, 2020 in the Netherlands even if they are absent, which is likely since the Russian constitution prohibits extradition.
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