Trials over downing of flight MH17 to be held in Netherlands

THE HAGUE: The trials of any suspects arrested in the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over war-torn eastern Ukraine will be held in the Netherlands, Dutch officials announced on Wednesday.

All 298 people on board were killed when the plane was downed on July 17, 2014 on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

A joint international investigation has determined that the Boeing 777 jet was hit by a Russian-made BUK missile fired from rebel-held territory, but a separate criminal probe has yet to arrest any suspects.

Now the countries leading the joint investigation team (JIT) — Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine — have agreed that any trials will be carried out within the Dutch legal system.

The countries “decided that the suspects should be prosecuted in the Netherlands, a process that will be rooted in ongoing international cooperation and support,” Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said in a statement.

“This cooperation is vital, given the complexity of this case,” he added, noting that eastern Ukraine was a conflict zone, “the scene of heavy fighting ... which is still difficult to access.”

The investigation was also hampered by “a great deal of disinformation and attempts to discredit the investigation”.

Dutch prosecutors, who have been leading the criminal probe, had asked the government to clarify the legal framework for any prosecutions in order to proceed in the case.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko vowed on Wednesday that Kiev “will contribute and assist the Netherlands as much as possible to assure the prompt punishment of those responsible”.

In a posting on his Facebook page, he again blamed Russia for blocking the creation of a UN-backed international tribunal.

“That is why I believe in (the) fairness, impartiality and objectivity of the Dutch justice” system, he added.

Investigators concluded in September that a BUK missile, which had been transported over the border from Russia shortly before the incident, was fired from a field in eastern Ukraine then controlled by pro-Russian rebels, and hit the plane.

— AFP A man uses a pair of binoculars next to the Friendship bridge on the Yalu River connecting the North Korean town of Sinuiju and Dandong in Chinese border city of Dandong. North Korea’s testfiring of a missile apparently capable of reaching Alaska...