Prosecutors begin explaining indictment at MH17 trial
ABC News
Prosecutors are explaining evidence and their indictment to judges in the murder trial of three Russians and a Ukrainian charged with involvement in downing Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014, killing all 298 passengers and crew
THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Netherlands -- Prosecutors on Monday began explaining evidence and their indictment to judges in the murder trial of three Russians and a Ukrainian charged with involvement in downing Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014, killing all 298 passengers and crew.
Prosecutors are scheduled to take three days to walk judges through the indictment at hearings in a top-security courtroom on the outskirts of Schiphol Airport — the departure point for the Boeing 777, which was heading for Kuala Lumpur when — according to prosecutors and international investigators — it was shot down.
“Today we are here to do right by the 298 victims of flight MH17,” public prosecutor Thijs Berger told the court.
Monday's hearing began against a backdrop of soaring tensions between Moscow and the West over a Russian troop buildup near Ukraine that has drawn fears of an invasion. Moscow has denied plans to attack its neighbor, but demanded the West provide a set of legal guarantees precluding the expansion of NATO to Ukraine and other Russian neighbors and the deployment of the alliance’s weapons there, a demand NATO has rejected.
