Families of MH17 airline crash address deep trauma in court

Relatives of the 298 passengers and crew killed on July 17, 2014, when a Buk missile blew a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur out of the sky above conflict-torn eastern Ukraine, are finally having their say in court

SCHIPHOL, Netherlands -- Since her father and stepmother died in the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash, Ria van der Steen has been dealing with feelings of hate, revenge, anger and fear. All dressed in black in the court room at Schiphol airport near Amsterdam, van der Steen spoke at length Monday about the nightmares that woke her up screaming and of the impossible goodbye to her loved ones. Finally, relatives of the 298 passengers and crew killed on July 17, 2014, when a Buk missile blew the Boeing 777 heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur out of the sky above conflict-torn eastern Ukraine, are having their say in court. Under Dutch law, the relatives are allowed to make a victim impact statement to the court, without being asked questions. About 90 people plan to do so over the next three weeks, some speaking via live video links from other countries.