The court of The Hague will rule on 17 November in the extensive criminal case concerning the downing of flight MH17. The verdict will take about an hour and a half, the court said on Monday.

In the plane crash on 17 July 2014, all 298 people on board, including many Dutch people, were killed. Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 departed that day from Schiphol with destination Kuala Lumpur. However, the Malaysian capital was never reached, the plane was shot down in eastern Ukraine, where an armed battle was also going on at the time.

After years of investigation by the international investigative team JIT, four suspects emerged: rebel leader Igor Girkin, his right-hand man Sergei Dubinsky, his assistant Oleg Pulatov and garrison commander Leonid Chartshenko. According to the Public Prosecution Service, the men played a role in bringing in or removing the Buk missile installation that would have shot the plane out of the sky. All four have not shown themselves in the secure court at Schiphol, where the trial is taking place. Pulatov is the only one who is assisted by lawyers. He denies any involvement.

The monster trial started on March 9, 2020. An important and fraught part of the process was the part in which the next of kin had their say. For three weeks, dozens of relatives told in court or via a video link what the disaster meant to them. The court president mentioned this again last June, during the last day of the hearing. He called it brave and said the process "has made a big impression on all of us".

Another hearing will follow on September 22, but this is a formality that is not expected to last more than five minutes. Although the chance of this is small, the court emphasizes that something important to the investigation can always happen, as a result of which the judgment date will still change.

--- DB4 - 20220519
* Origin: AVIATION ECHO HQ (2:292/854)