Russia wants to silence MH17 witnesses – lawyer
Witnesses testifying in the trial of four men accused of shooting down Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 needed ‘‘extraordinary’’ levels of protection because of fears that Russia wants to silence them, prosecutors have said.
Thijs Berger, a prosecution lawyer, told judges at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Judicial Centre yesterday on the second day of the landmark hearing that several witnesses had requested anonymity and ‘‘feared for their lives’’ if their identities became known.
‘‘There are strong indications that the Russian government is very keen to thwart this investigation and that it is not averse to deploying the Russian security services to this end,’’ he said. He appeared to be referring to the GRU, the military intelligence agency that the UK government believed carried out the chemical attack in Salisbury in 2018, on Sergei Skripal, the former spy.
Prosecutors said those in need of special protection included a Russian, who claimed to have been at the launch site from which the missile that destroyed the plane was fired. He said those there were ‘‘initially pleased, because they were told a military transport plane had been shot down. However, when the first people returned from the crash site they said it was a civilian aircraft’’.
There have been new claims that Moscow may have hacked confidential Australian Federal Police (AFP) forensics reports.
Investigators have amassed a dossier of testimony from proRussia fighters who were nearby when a Buk-TELAR launcher fired a missile that brought down the Malaysia Airlines plane, killing all 298 passengers and crew.
Flight MH17 was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it came down over Ukraine on July 17, 2014.
At least three people who actively fought in the Russianbacked conflict on the ground below – codenamed M58, S07 and S21 – have spoken to investigators, along with dozens of other people who Dutch prosecutors fear could also be targeted.
The deadly 2014 disaster triggered a joint international investigation that has included more than 500 Australian Federal Police officers.
The potential hack involved an AFP forensic analysis of images of the Buk missile launcher being transported in eastern Ukraine.
The prosecutors said there were indications that the GRU had attempted to hack the Malaysian police and attorneygeneral’s office in a bid to steal information about MH17.
Australia has long accused Russia of sharing responsibility in the MH17 disaster but Moscow has repeatedly denied involvement.
Investigators concluded in 2018 that the Boeing 777-200 was shot down by a Russian-made missile launched from a Russianowned launcher that had been smuggled into Ukraine from Russia and sent back over the border after MH17 was brought down.
In court yesterday, prosecutors said witness M58 – the most at-risk of all protected witnesses – told investigators that some Russian military personnel, who fighters said belonged to Russia’s security service – were with the Buk launcher at the launch site. This is believed to be the first public claim that serving Russian security officials were at the scene of the deadly strike.
The first stage of the trial at the Schipol Judicial Complex was due to run until Friday but has been adjourned until March 23 to allow judges time to consider how the hearings will proceed.