Netherland’s MH17 case against separatists admissible, rules court
Published on: Thursday, January 26, 2023
By: FMT
Trial judges and lawyers view the reconstructed wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, at the Gilze-Rijen military airbase, southern Netherlands, May 26, 2021. (AP pic)
PETALING JAYA: The Netherlands’ case against Russian-backed separatists over the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 is admissible, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said today, Reuters reported.
Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine, which was held by Russian-backed separatists in 2014. A total of 298 people died, 43 of them Malaysians.
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The Netherlands filed its case with the ECHR in 2020, saying that the separatists breached the European Convention on Human Rights by downing the plane.
Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement in the destruction of the aircraft as fighting raged between the separatists and the Ukrainian government forces then.
Last November, a Dutch court convicted three men and sentenced them to life in prison for shooting down the aircraft which was on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014.
The three were former Russian intelligence agents Igor Girkin and Sergey Dubinskiy, and Leonid Kharchenko, a Ukrainian separatist leader.
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The decision was hailed by then prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob who said that Malaysia supported and was satisfied with the verdict.
He said the decision of the Hague district court had set an important benchmark in the quest to find the truth and bring justice to the victims.
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In December, Dutch prosecutors said they would not appeal against the outcome of the trial, making the verdicts final although those convicted remain at large.
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