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The Russian authorities deliberately delay the consideration of the MH17 case in the court of The Hague. At the same time, Russia is not a participant in the process. The Insider was told about this by an independent aviation expert Vadim Lukashevich, the author of books “The Tragedy of MH17: Truth and Falsehood.”
The hearings resumed on November 1. Already on November 15, the prosecution was supposed to start announcing the indictment, however, at the request of the defense, the court announced a break in the hearings pending a response from the Russian side to further inquiries. In particular, we are talking about the interrogation at the request of the protection of the commander of the Kursk 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade Sergei Muchkaev. It was he who commanded the Buk-M1 firing unit # 332, from which the Boeing was allegedly shot down
Back in April of this year, the Netherlands sent a request to Russia within the framework of an interstate agreement on the provision of legal assistance, in August Russia agreed to this, but later began to ignore the requests of the Netherlands. Now the defense accuses the prosecutor’s office that the questioning of Muchkaev became unlikely after the appeal of the Joint Investigation Group directly to the residents of Kursk.
The defense also demanded a further analysis of the testimony of the witness M58, who was located directly at the site of the Buk launch. The defense claims to the interrogation of M58 are that at the time of interrogation he was in the next room, his voice was changed, and he himself was in a wig and a fake mustache. The defense requested the original audio and video of M58’s interrogation.
“I think that these are quite coordinated actions of the defense and the Russian authorities represented by the Investigative Committee, which deliberately delay the process. The trial was actually postponed for several months, and no longer because of the actions of lawyers, but because of the position of Russia – now the statement of the prosecutor’s office about the guilt of the accused has been postponed to December, with the reservation of the deadline for February 2022. It may take several more months for the court to finally be convinced that the interrogation of Muchkaev is impossible. It is possible, of course, that the interrogation will be carried out, and Muchkaev will say that the Buk did not cross the Ukrainian border, as the Russian side has repeatedly stated, ”Lukashevich said.
“At the beginning of the process, the prosecutor’s office, believing that the defense would not cling to the“ alternative ”versions rejected by the investigation, such as an explosion on board, the Ukrainian Su-25 attack aircraft and others, and spoke about the possible beginning of the consideration of the case on the merits in the summer of 2020. But the opposition of the defense, clinging to every little thing, from the coronavirus to the interrogations of killed separatists, led to the fact that the consideration of the case on the merits began only on June 6, 2021. Thus, the defense managed to win a whole year. Now the consideration of the case has been delayed again, ”Lukashevich added.
Earlier it was planned that on November 15-17, the prosecutor’s office was to come up with an assessment of the facts and evidence in the case, as well as present a demand to punish four accused. From March 7, 2022, four weeks were reserved for the defense. From May 16, 2022, the reaction of the prosecutor’s office and a group of lawyers of relatives to the speeches of the defense of the main accused, Oleg Pulatov, was to follow.
Lukashevich noted that after the court presented the position of the prosecution, the most difficult stage from an emotional point of view began – the speech of the relatives of the victims. Some of them speak in person, some have written down appeals to the court.
According to Lukashevich, the next postponement of the trial, on the one hand, cuts off possible future charges of bias in the court, and on the other hand, the opportunity to once again demonstrate to the whole world Russia’s direct opposition to justice. “I would put this on a par with the Russian veto on the UN Security Council resolution on the creation of an international tribunal for MH17 in 2015,” Lukashevich concluded.
The District Military Court of The Hague is considering the case of the downed Boeing. Among the defendants are four members of the unrecognized DPR – Russians Igor Strelkov, Sergei Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko. The court will have to answer the questions “Was MH17 shot down by Buk?”
The Insider asked experts from the Conflict Intelligence Team to analyze the data published by the court from the case materials, including new evidence of the involvement of the Russian military and mercenaries.
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