MH17 flight: Dutch prosecutors call for life sentences for suspects in downing of Malaysia Airlines passenger plane
- Four suspects are on trial in absentia accused of downing Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine, killing 298. A verdict is not expected until late 2022
- The plane heading for Kuala Lumpur took off from Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport in July 2014, and prosecutors this week launched closing arguments in the trial
Dutch prosecutors on Wednesday called for life in prison for four suspects on trial in absentia accused of downing Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine with a surface-to-air missile, killing 298 people.
The ill-fated flight heading for Kuala Lumpur took off from Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport in July 2014, and prosecutors this week launched closing arguments in the closely watched trial.
A verdict is not expected until late 2022 at the earliest.
The four suspects on trial are Russian nationals Igor Girkin, Sergei Dubinsky and Oleg Pulatov, and Ukrainian citizen Leonid Kharchenko, accused of launching the BUK missile that hit the plane over war-torn eastern Ukraine.
“We are asking that the suspects Girkin, Dubinsky, Pulatov and Kharchenko, each for their responsibility of crashing a plane leading to the death and murder of 298 people, be sentenced to life in prison,” prosecutor Manon Ridderbeks told the court on Wednesday.
All four have refused to appear in court in the Netherlands and are being tried in absentia.
Prosecutors have argued this week that the four suspects played pivotal roles in securing the BUK system, which was most likely intended to strike a Ukrainian warplane.
