Four men accused of downing plane set to go on trial

FAMILIES WHO lost loved ones when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down in 2014 hope they will finally find out what happened when a trial starts on Monday.

Three Russians linked to their country’s security and intelligence services and a Ukrainian rebel commander will go on trial in the Netherlands.

They are accused of murdering all 298 passengers and crew by shooting down the Boeing 777 as it passed over conflict-torn eastern Ukraine. A missile fired from territory controlled by pro-Russian rebels tore the passenger jet apart.

Among those who died were Silene Fredriksz-Hoogzand’s son Bryce and his girlfriend Daisy.

“It never will return to normal,” Ms Fredriksz-Hoogzand said. “There’s a life before and a life after.”

On Monday she and her husband will head to a conference centre to watch the trial with other relatives from around the world. The courtroom is close to Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport where the flight heading for Malaysia. The trial is taking place in the Netherlands because most of the victims – 193 people – were Dutch. The scale of the trial is unprecedented in Dutch law.

A memorial to the victims, pictured, has been built in the Netherlands.

The suspects are likely will stay away and be tried in absentia. Neither Russia nor Ukraine extradites its citizens.

Russia has denied involvement in the downing of the plane, even after prosecutors alleged that the Buk missile system which destroyed the plane was transported into Ukraine from the Russian 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade’s base in Kursk, and the launching system was then returned to Russia.

After a painstaking investigation spanning years, an international team of investigators and prosecutors last year named four suspects: Russians Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy and Oleg Pulatov, as well as Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko.

An investigation team examined the wreckage and body parts, questioned witnesses and experts, studied radar and satellite images and analysed data and intercepted communications before charging the four suspects.

The team also spoke to leaders of the pro-Russia rebels. Key questions remain over who authorised the missile’s movement and who fired the missile.

The trial is expected to last months.