DeepL Translator said:Main suspect MH17 does not rule out going to a Dutch court
Igor Girkin, the main suspect of the shooting down of flight MH17, takes into account that he will appear before a Dutch judge. 'That possibility cannot be ruled out at all', he says in an interview with a Russian newspaper.
Tom Vennink 16 August 2019, 18:22
Igor Girkin is one of the prime suspects in the investigation into the MH17 disaster. Image REUTERS
It is the first time that Girkin answers questions about the lawsuit against him that will start next spring in the Netherlands. During the disaster with MH17 he was the highest military official of the separatists.
Although he doesn't rule out his visit to the Netherlands, he doesn't consider it very likely. First of all, he is 'under no circumstances' prepared to surrender himself to the Dutch authorities. In addition, 'such a development is not in the interest of the Russian authorities', Girkin says in the interview with the daily Moskovsky Komsomolets [in Russian].
A change of power in the Kremlin can change this, he realizes. 'If other forces take over power, the situation will probably change for me.' It's not clear what he means by that; the Russian constitution forbids the extradition of its own nationals.
Russian involvement
Girkin does not answer the question of who, according to him, shot the aircraft of Malaysia Airlines out of the sky. He only repeats that the separatists did not do it. Unlike the Russian authorities, he refrains from making accusations against the Ukrainian army. By doing so, he keeps open the possibility that soldiers from the Russian army can be held responsible for the downing of the plane.
In the interview, he says on several occasions that he has information about Russian involvement in the annexation of the Crimea and with the war in Eastern Ukraine, which the authorities want to be kept secret. 'Many people would like me to remain silent for ever instead of ending up in all kinds of interrogations.'
Girkin's remarks about the murder of Aleksandr Zakhartsjenko [in Dutch], the former leader of the rebel republic of Donetsk in the east of Ukraine, are also striking. The Russian government says that the Ukrainian security service is behind the bombing. Girkin says that the murder would have been impossible 'without the participation of people who have ties with, let's say, influential Russian circles.'
Girkin has been staying in Moscow since his departure as Secretary of Defense of the Separatists. He regularly criticizes President Putin's domestic and foreign policy. According to Girkin, Putin should have 'reunited' eastern Ukraine with Russia, following the annexation of the Crimea. 'He has missed a unique opportunity that perhaps only occurs once a century,' Girkin says in the interview.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
DeepL Translator said:
Vladimir Tsemach, the commander who was arrested in June and who could play
an important role in the MH17 process. © private
"Russia wants key witness MH17."
Russia would like to add the possible key witness in the MH17 trial, Vladimir Tsemach, to the list of prisoners that Ukraine and Russia are likely to exchange next week.
Joost Bosman 01-09-19, 18:45 Last update: 20:01
Three different sources report this: the Ukrainian parliamentarian Mustafa Najem, the Ukrainian editor-in-chief Yuri Bozetoesov of Tsenzor.net and the independent Russian news site The Insider.
Tsemach may be important for the MH17 case: he stated earlier in an interview that he had helped to hide the Russian BUK rocket that took down the aircraft with 298 passengers. Tsemach will probably be the only witness who can tell his story. That's why Russia would be keen on his extradition, according to the sources.
Ukrainian commandos managed to kidnap Tsemach on 29 June, deep in the self-proclaimed, pro-Russian People's Republic of Donetsk (DNR), and take him to Kiev. Tsemach was the commander of a DNR air defense unit near Snizjne, where the BUK was fired at MH17. He is still in detention on remand.
If Kiev agrees to his extradition to Russia, an explosive situation will arise between Ukraine and the Netherlands: the Dutch judge will probably want to speak to Tsemach during the upcoming MH17 trial that will start at Schiphol in March. If the story is true, it is curious: Tsemach is a Ukrainian citizen, so Russia has no formal reason to want him. The motive seems clear: if he is taken to Russia, he will certainly not testify.
The discussions on the exchange of prisoners are taking place behind closed doors. It is therefore difficult to determine whether Moscow has really made the demand about Tsemach. Najem says from Kiev, when asked, that he 'knows nothing more than what he has written on Telegram'. He doesn't want to reveal his sources, but says that they are reliable.
Putin
Sources from The Insider near the negotiating table say that without him Moscow would even cancel the exchange. The same sources say that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would be willing to cooperate in the extradition of the possible key witness in order for the deal to go ahead anyway.
Last Friday, after a conversation between Zelensky and his Russian colleague Vladimir Putin, it began to buzz that a large exchange of prisoners was imminent. On the Ukrainian side, the film director Oleg Sentsov and 24 sailors were said to be involved.
The Russian navy overpowered the latter at the end of November, after Ukrainian and Russian battleships had clashed on the sea of Azov (near the Crimea). On the Russian side the Ukrainian-Russian journalist Kirill Vyshinsky, suspected of espionage, is on the verge of being sent home.
Several Ukrainian media reported on Friday morning that the deal was done and some of the prisoners had even already been put on the plane. The spokesman of the Ukrainian secret service SBOe then wrote on Facebook that there was no agreement yet. According to Najem and Buttuesov, the delay was caused by the fact that Moscow came up with the condition about Tsemach at the eleventh hour.
The Insider writes that Tsemach's testimony will bring the MH17 trial into a new phase. It forces Moscow to send lawyers to the Netherlands to publicly defend the Russian position. If Tsemach doesn't testify, Moscow will be able to ignore the trial much more easily, according to The Insider.
The Public Prosecutor's Office was not available for comment on Sunday. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs explains that it is 'not up to the Netherlands to make statements about this'.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
Thanks Palinurus, for putting this right.
You're right but you have to remember those relatives and their organization are spellbound via propaganda and the exploiting of deeply felt emotions; much like most Americans are/were after 9/11. In a way this MH17 disaster works for some --or even most-- of the Dutch as 9/11 did for the American people: the mechanisms are similar and they produce the same results, i.e. the conviction to know what happened and acting accordingly.
DeepL Translator said:
DeepL Translator said:
southfront.org
Something seems to be missing at the front of this sentence/paragraph but I couldn't make out what exactly as the original is in a language I didn't recognize.
