Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 Crashes in Ukraine

Source (in Dutch): https://www.msn.com/nl-nl/nieuws/Buitenland/kremlin-verwerpt-bewering-dat-poetin-betrokken-was-bij-mh17-ramp

Kremlin rejects claim that Putin was involved in MH17 disaster
Article from ANP - 6 hours ago

MOSKOU (ANP/RTR) - The Kremlin rejects the finding of investigators from the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that President Vladimir Putin had a major role in supplying the weaponry that brought down flight MH17 in 2014 and was therefore actively involved in the disaster. The team said Wednesday it found "strong indications" of Putin's involvement in the incident.

Prosecutors referred to intercepted phone calls, but acknowledged that evidence of direct involvement by Putin or other Russian officials is not sufficiently decisive for a criminal conviction. "We know that a recording has been published of an alleged telephone conversation in which not a single word about weapons is mentioned. Even if we assume that this conversation is genuine there is no mention of weapons," the spokesman said.

The JIT's investigation is being discontinued in part due to the fact that Putin cannot be prosecuted because of his immunity as president. Moscow has repeatedly denied Russian state involvement in the downing of MH17.

Related: Netherlands summons Russian ambassador over indications that Putin was involved in MH17

In Dutch:
Russische ambassadeur op het matje geroepen vanwege onderzoeksuitkomst MH17
https://www.msn.com/nl-nl/nieuws/Binnenland/russische-ambassadeur-op-matje-geroepen-om-mh17
 
An article by John Helmer on the MH17 crash.

The evidence of the two satellite images now exposed, and the conclusions which the briefing officer attempted and the transcript then confirmed, is that US satellite images were recorded for the July 17, 2014, area of the shoot-down, and that they have been withheld.

The likely reason for this cannot be revealed because they fail to substantiate the case for Russian culpability in the firing of the BUK. According to the rules for admissibility of evidence and the legal standards for proof in criminal prosecutions in civilized courts, the new evidence contradicts the core of the JIT and Dutch court case. The missing satellite images contradict the indictment and exculpate the accused.

 
Thanks for finding and sharing, @Vulcan59.:thup:

As usual, John Helmer's article is rather devastating for the Dutch position and the JIT investigation.

Once more he demonstrates convincingly that this whole affair has degraded into utterly political posturing and is only constructed to blame Russia and protect the real culprits, i.e. Ukraine.
 
Source: Russia summons Dutch ambassador over MH17 disaster

Friday, 17 February 2023 - 14:50

Russia summons Dutch ambassador over MH17 disaster

Russia’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Dutch ambassador on Thursday. Ambassador Gilles Beschoor Plug was told to stop “the obsessive attempts of the Dutch authorities to hold the Russian Federation responsible” for the downing of flight MH17, the Russian Ministry said in a statement.

Earlier this month, the Joint Investigation Team said that it found strong indications that Russian president Vladimir Putin was involved in deploying the BUK missile system that shot down the Malaysian Airlines passenger flight over Eastern Ukraine in 2014. Prime Minister Mark Rutte also recently told RTL Nieuws that the JIT had demonstrated Putin’s involvement in the dowing. And while the Russian president can’t be prosecuted, the whole world sees this, Rutte said.

The JIT has stopped its investigation into other people involved in the downing of MH17 because it did not find enough evidence to prosecute anyone else. The team can restart the investigation if new evidence surfaces.

Russia again called the investigation “politicized” and said it does not accept the JIT’s conclusions. According to the Russian Ministry, the JIT worked for years to make the evidence fit a “pre-selected version of the tragedy and negletcted the obvious facts that contradicted it.”

On 17 July 2014, the Malaysia Airlines flight from Schiphol to Kuala Lumpur was shot down over eastern Ukraine. All 298 people on board were killed, including 196 Dutch people.

In November last year, the court in The Hague sentenced rebel leader Igor Girkin, his right-hand man Sergei Dubinsky, and garrison commander Leonid Chartshenko to life in prison for their role in the downing of flight MH17. They were the first suspects identified by the JIT. The fourth suspect, Oleg Pulatov, was acquitted. The court believes that the downing of the Malaysia Airlines passenger flight was a mistake by pro-Russian separatists. The assumption is that they did not intend to shoot down a passenger plane but mistook it for a military aircraft.

Related (in Dutch): Kabinet noemt ontbieden gezant vanwege MH17 diplomatiek spel van Rusland

NOS News - Today, 14:03 - Updated today, 14:51
Cabinet calls summoning envoy because of MH17 diplomatic game by Russia

The Cabinet is not impressed by the Russian government's diplomatic signal. The latter summoned the Dutch ambassador to the Foreign Ministry in Moscow because of the Dutch position in the MH17 case.

Deputy Prime Minister Kaag says such things are part of the diplomatic game. "An ambassador can be put on the spot. Who then bravely hears the message and that's it, I would say."

The Russian government wants the Netherlands to stop " compulsive attempts" to hold Russia responsible for the downing of MH17. The Russian ministry also called the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) "politicized." The JIT is investigating who is responsible for the crash of the civilian airliner.

Justice

The Cabinet does not intend to be concerned. "We are seeking justice," Kaag said. "We are committed with our international partners to finding the truth and we are doing that for the victims and their families."

Last Tuesday, the very Russian ambassador to the Netherlands was summoned because of the MH17 case. Prime Minister Rutte then said in the House of Representatives that the ambassador should appear to give "text and explanation" about President Putin's involvement. The JIT announced last week that there are strong indications that Putin gave the green light for the deployment of weapons used to bring down the plane.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
 
Source (in Dutch): Poetin geeft eretitel aan brigade die betrokken was bij MH17-ramp

Putin gives honorary title to brigade involved in MH17 disaster

ANP, Feb. 21, 2023 15:17 - Modified: Feb. 21, 2023 15:44

Russian President Vladimir Putin has granted an honorary title to a brigade involved in the downing of flight MH17 in 2014. Members of the 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade may henceforth call themselves "guardsmen" for their "determination and courage," according to a statement signed by Putin.

The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that investigated the downing of MH17 pointed to the Russian military's 53rd brigade in its investigation. This unit, according to the JIT, supplied the missile system used to shoot down the plane. Earlier this month, the JIT announced that the investigation into three officers of this brigade had been halted because their involvement had not been confirmed by other sources.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Other Dutch coverage:
msn.com/nl-nl/nieuws/Buitenland/poetin-geeft-eretitel-aan-brigade-die-betrokken-was-bij-mh17-ramp
GeenStijl: Poetin geeft onderscheiding aan brigade die zorgde voor neerhalen MH17
 
Source (in Dutch): msn.com/nl-nl/nieuws/Binnenland/rutte-hekelt-eretitel-voor-eenheid-betrokken-bij-neerhalen-mh17

Rutte denounces honorary title for unit involved in downing MH17

Article from ANP - Yesterday at 23:37

DEN HAAG (ANP) - Prime Minister Mark Rutte is denouncing the honorary title that Russian President Vladimir Putin has awarded to the brigade involved in the downing of flight MH17. It concerns the 53rd anti-aircraft brigade stationed near Kursk. That supplied the Buk missile used to shoot down the Malaysia Airlines plane in July 2014 which killed 298 people, including 196 Dutch nationals.

Military personnel of this unit may henceforth call themselves "guardsmen" for their "determination and courage," Putin has decided. "I find that award really distasteful," Rutte said in response to a question from D66 member Sjoerd Sjoerdsma. "That fits also completely in the cynical and ruthless politics of the Kremlin." He said it is a "total show of disrespect toward victims and relatives of flight MH17."

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
 
Source: Judge reprimanded for spreading MH17 conspiracy theory - DutchNews.nl

Judge reprimanded for spreading MH17 conspiracy theory

July 11, 2023

A Dutch judge who tried to influence the judges presiding over the recent MH17 trial by spreading a conspiracy theory among them has been given a formal reprimand (in Dutch) by the Supreme Court.

Judge Charlotte van Rijnberk, who works at the court of appeal in The Hague, distributed a book written by her brother to judges and prosecutors involved in the MH17 case, the The Financieele Dagblad has reported (in Dutch).

The book’s author, who used a pseudonym, argues that flight MH17 was not downed by a Russian missile at all in 2014, as the Dutch Safety Board and the public prosecutor had concluded. Instead, he claims the plane was shot down by the Ukrainian authorities, the FD said.

Describing the trial as the result of corruption, the aim of the book, the author said on the cover, was to make sure the court case proceeded with different public prosecutors and different suspects.

The judge herself described the findings of the MH17 investigation “a deliberate and transparent cover-up” and said some of the data used was “manipulated and a lie”, broadcaster NOS reported (in Dutch). According to the FD, she also wrote to judges and court officials in an attempt to influence the proceedings.

The Supreme Court said in its decision to reprimand the judge that she had tried to influence the judges and the course of the MH17 trial. In doing so, she undermined confidence in the authority and impartiality of the judiciary, the court said.

Van Rijnberk has now been transferred to another department but was not sacked because she had accepted that her behavior was wrong.

Judges determined last year that flight MH17 was shot down by a Russian BUK missile over Ukrainian territory. All 298 occupants died in the disaster, including 196 Dutch nationals.

Three of the four people accused of facilitating the disaster were found guilty and the fourth acquitted by The Hague court last November. None were in the Netherlands for the trial and no one has launched an appeal.
 
Source: UN Court clears Russia of financing terror in Ukraine, which led to Flight MH17 downing

Wednesday, 31 January 2024 - 16:41

UN Court clears Russia of financing terrorism in Ukraine leading to Flight MH17 downing


After seven years, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague has ruled in Russia's favor over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. The case was brought by Ukraine, who alleged that Russia violated an anti-terrorism treaty by supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine with military aid and financing.

In its verdict, the ICJ ruled that Ukraine did not prove that Russia knew its financing would be used for the purposes of terrorism, even if its weaponry was used to shoot down the aircraft, killing innocent civilians. Russia will not have to pay damages in the case.

There was a glimmer of hope for Ukraine, even though ICJ rulings are generally binding, and not subject to appeal. Despite the anti-terrorism treaty prohibiting the financing of terrorism, the ICJ determined that Russia failed to adequately investigate Russian citizens suspected of funding terrorist activities in eastern Ukraine. The ICJ said Ukraine provided sufficient evidence to warrant an investigation into that issue.

Flight MH17 fell from the sky in pieces on July 17, 2014, nearly five months after Russia began its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and other territory in eastern Ukraine. The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 departed Amsterdam for Kuala Lumpur, but crashed as it flew over the conflict areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

An international investigation determined the airplane was shot down by the Russian-backed separatists using a Russian military BUK surface-to-air missile. Ukraine filed the case at the ICJ in 2017, well before Russia intensified its invasion into the country in 2022. Russia denied being directly involved in that war and also said that the missile used to shoot MH17 out of the sky was not Russian.

Ukraine accused Russia of violating two international conventions regarding the financing of terrorism and racial discrimination. The country accused the Kremlin of the "illegal annexation" of Crimea and "illegal arms supply" of separatists and terrorists. A separate case was also filed regarding the allegations of discrimination against Ukrainians and Tatars in Crimea.

Ukraine filed its case, saying at the time it felt all other means had been exhausted, Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin said at the time. "For over two years we've tried to settle the conflict through negotiations, but Russia will not cease its human rights violations."

All 283 passengers on board MH17, and its 15 crew members, lost their lives that day. Among them were 196 Dutch nationals, 43 Malaysian citizens, 27 Australians, and people from Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, the Philippines, Canada, and New Zealand. One British passenger was a dual citizen of South Africa.

The Dutch court system was eventually used to prosecute four people in the case, Alexander Dubinsky, Igor Girkin, Leonid Kharchenko, and Oleg Pulatov. Dubinsky, Girkin and Kharchenko were convicted in absentia and handed life sentences, while Pulatov was acquitted. He was the only one of the four who elected to be represented by attorneys in the case. Three of the four defendants are Russian, while Kharchenko is Ukrainian.

The preliminary results of an international investigation into the disaster concluded that the plane was shot down from within a separatist controlled area in the Ukraine. It was shot down with a Russian BUK missile system, which the investigators were able to track moving from the Russian border to the field from which MH17 was shot down, and then back again after the disaster.

The investigation tracked down the mobile BUK missile system vehicle believed to be used in the incident. The investigators then showed the vehicle moving from Russia, across the border into Ukraine, and to the field from which the missile that struck MH17 was fired. The vehicle then retreated back to Russia after the incident.

Russia has always denied responsibility, and called the investigation "biased and politically motivated." It said none of its missile systems ever crossed the border from Russia into Ukraine.

The International Court of Justice is the main judicial body within the United Nations and is located in the Peace Palace in the Hague. The court has 15 judges that rule on legal disputes between countries.
 
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