LIVEBLOG: Suspects announced for the downing of Flight MH17

There will be a press conference held today in Nieuwegein where they will announce the developments of the criminal investigation for the downing of flight MH17 over Eastern Ukraine in 2014.

They have already released the names of 4 suspects who may be prosecuted: Leonid Ghartsjenko from Ukraine and Oleg Poelatov, Igor Girkin and Sergei Dubinski from Russia (source: NOS).

The criminal investigation is being led by a Joint Investigation Team (JIT), a team established in 2014 consisting of authorities who come from the countries most affected, namely, the Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, Ukraine, and Belgium.

Downing of flight MH17: What we know so far

The investigation so far tells us the flight was downed by a BUK missile system which was fired from a place in Ukraine that was controlled by pro-Russian separatists at the time of the attack. The missile system is said have been from the 53rd anti-aircraft Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces.

All 298 people on board (196 of them were Dutch) were killed. Australia and the Netherlands have both officially announced that they hold Russia liable.

Memorial for the victims at Amsterdam Schiphol airport. Source: Roman Buddha from The Netherlands/ wikimedia commons

Who are the suspects?

Sergey Dubinsky is a former Russian intelligence officer, who was the “head of the intelligence service of the “people’s republic” Donetsk, proclaimed by pro-Russian rebels”. Oleg Pulatov is said to have played an important role in the transport of the missile which brought down the place. Igor Girkin was a Russian intelligence colonel and the “defense minister” of the rebel republic of Donetsk. Leonid Chartsjenko was the “head of a battalion of insurgants”, and was present at the place where the missile was installed to be launched.

They are all going to be tried for murder, and court proceedings will commence in the month of March in 2020.

 

 

Kavana Desai
Kavana Desaihttps://medium.com/@kavanadesai
Coping with the aftermath of her 3-year stint in the Netherlands, Kavana is a writer, content creator and editor for DutchReview. Hailing from India, she frequently blogs about the Netherlands, being Indian in the Netherlands, and everything in between. She envisions herself to one day be the youngest person to win that Nobel Prize for Literature (she is also not very humble but welcomes only constructive criticism). In the meantime, she fills her days with writing for DutchReview, writing her master's thesis on art theft, and writing fiction that will hopefully see the light of day soon.

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