Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 Crashes in Ukraine

[Palinurus]

Source: MH17 witness identities to be kept secret at next month's trial - DutchNews.nl

MH17 witness identities to be kept secret at next month’s trial

February 26, 2020

The identities of 13 witnesses at next month’s MH17 trial are to be kept secret because they face ‘considerable risks’, TV current affairs show Nieuwsuur has reported [in Dutch].

Court documents show the 13 have the right to protection because they feel threatened and their health or safety could be compromised by the hearings, Nieuwsuur said.

Four suspects - three Russians and one Ukrainian - have been summoned to appear in court for the trial. All are said to have played key roles in the self-proclaimed ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ in eastern Ukraine, where the BUK missile which brought down the plane was fired.

The documents also show that the four suspects, who are unlikely to appear in court, all face charges of murder and manslaughter because they deliberately put an airplane in danger.

The four provided ‘the commander and crew’ of the BUK missile with telephones and information about the right location where to set off the rocket, and organized the transport of the missile, the public prosecution department documents state.

The first hearings take place on March 9 and are being held at the high security Schiphol airport courtroom.

Dutch

All 298 people on board flight MH17 were killed when it was struck by a missile on July 17, 2014, and crashed into fields in eastern Ukraine. Two-thirds of the passengers on the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were Dutch.

The official investigation concluded in 2016 that the plane was shot down from Ukrainian farmland by a BUK missile ‘controlled by pro-Russian fighters’. That conclusion has been disputed by Russia, which claims that Ukrainian fighters were responsible.

 

[Palinurus]

Source (Dutch only): Proces MH17 gaat door met meer hygiëne om corona

Process MH17 will start as planned with more hygiene for Corona

METRO and ANP - 15.00 hrs

The criminal trial on the downing of flight MH17 in 2014 is scheduled to start in a week's time, despite the first infections with the Corona virus in the Netherlands.

However, extra hygienic measures are being taken around the monster process for which more than four hundred journalists from more than twenty countries have registered. Also 65 international observers are expected to monitor the proceedings.

Disinfectant

In the extra secured court at Schiphol, where the trial takes place, small pumps are placed with a hand sanitizer and the banisters, door handles and toilets will be cleaned more frequently.

Would the virus spread any further, other measures will be considered. The court is in contact with the RIVM [National Institute for Public Health and the Environment] on this matter. The trial is scheduled to last more than a year.

Disaster in 2014

The aircraft of Malaysia Airlines was shot out of the air on its way from Schiphol Airport to Kuala Lumpur on 17 July 2014. This happened over the eastern part of Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists fought against the Ukrainian government army. The Boeing 777 was hit by a BUK missile. All 298 occupants were killed, including almost 200 Dutchmen.


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

 

[Niall]

Four suspects - three Russians and one Ukrainian - have been summoned to appear in court for the trial. All are said to have played key roles in the self-proclaimed ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ in eastern Ukraine, where the BUK missile which brought down the plane was fired.

In other words, they're to be brought in to give false statements about an imaginary BUK, and their identities are to be masked so that no one can properly verify their claims or cross-examine the 'witnesses'.

 

[Tuatha de Danaan]

In other words, they're to be brought in to give false statements about an imaginary BUK, and their identities are to be masked so that no one can properly verify their claims or cross-examine the 'witnesses'

It really does cause brain pain to realize this is actually what they are doing. it really is the twilight zone.

 

[Palinurus]

In other words, they're to be brought in to give false statements about an imaginary BUK, and their identities are to be masked so that no one can properly verify their claims or cross-examine the 'witnesses'.

Before jumping to conclusions like these it may be best to consult the special website covering all necessary details of the trial proceedings which will follow Dutch legislation, jurisprudence and case law.

The fact that some witnesses (13 so far) will have their identities concealed for security reasons, doesn't have as a necessary consequence that they would not be available for cross-examination nor that their claims and statements could not be verified or tested by other means.

 

[Voyageur]

Archiving a second article on SOTT about the leaked info from within the JIT, this time from Max van der Werff himself as it was published on his own website:

Was MH17 properly investigated? Leaked documents cast doubt -- Sott.net

Had a read of this article by van der Werff whereby he does a good run down on the photo evidence (and other points). What he is really saying, imo, is that there is no chain of custody of the photo evidence, and thus it should never be admissible in most courts - never, yet courts, commissions and tribunals have funny ways with evidence.

What evidence that seems to be most clear in this so called investigation by JIT, has built its foundations on the evidence of bias. A reasonable judge would have to throw out the case, I mean, there is not much other than physical evidence of the plane (which JIT at first didn't want), and the rest is subjective bits and pieces put forth by the likes of Bellingcat, and from other tainted Ukrainian military/political data sources and possibly coerced, so called witnesses (we shall see).

The families of those killed obviously want closure, and they damn well deserve it, and it's understandable that they would be enticed to evidence forwarded by authoritarians and repeated in the press (also as Niall just suggested), yet it is not really evidence as such when it looks like Swiss Cheese without alignment and, the source of this cheese have their identities suppressed for whatever reason they offer.

What is one to do with evidence, as evidentiary filed, within this theater investigation where you just can't accept evidence from others who have been vilified for these last many years? However you can (as you pointed out) accept evidence from unidentified sources who can be cross examined (how rigorous that would be in a Dutch court of law is anyone's guess). Perhaps I'm not seen this through the right lens, yet one can ask, cross examined by who and on what sort of bias would that examination entail, and what bias will the witnesses bring to the bench themselves? On what bias will the evidence be accepted as truth? It seems a sloppy narrative persists, a managed investigation that can't be allowed to change no matter what and where the counter narrative evidence (which is not allowed) points to. Like the Warren commission et cetera.

Looking at the three judges in the case (H. Steenhuis, Koster, Kerstens-Fockens and Glass (reserve)
- a multi judge case presided over by Hendrik Steenhuis as the head judge is interesting. Hendrik was instrumental in the 'judgement' case of "populist anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders" for hate speech, as can be seen in the Times of Israel. Wilders had also come out in favor of Russia not long ago, so he was a good target, yet in that so called Islam hating speech case, Hendrik was forgiving (although prosecuted) of Geert due to political reasons.

Here is the MH17 pretrial FAQ.

It will be interesting to see how they close the book on this case, if they ever close it, and if they do the questions in the minds of the victims may be softened, damped down and closure provided, yet does that mean that closure will come at the expense of lies over truth? Will have to see.

 

[Palinurus]

At least one of the accused has assistance of a law firm, so it's up to them to scrutinize the evidence and bring anything to the table that would be advantageous for the defense.

Moreover, those not represented now by any legal assistant could get lawyers assigned to them by the court if need be. Problem is, several of them have not recognized the court's jurisdiction in this case to begin with.

All this will be sorted out at the beginning of the trial during the preliminary hearings on the proceedings as such.

 

[Voyageur]

Had missed this from Helmer that you had referenced here:

SOTT now carries a second article from John Helmer with more and new info about the files leaked out from within the JIT which were written by Major General Onno Eichelsheim, head of Dutch military intelligence (MIVD):

More MH17 leaks: NATO repeatedly reported there was no evidence of Russian Buk in Ukraine -- Sott.net

Bonanza Media (on the SOTT version and not the Helmer version) has a video.

Also interesting the changes in the defence heads in the Netherlands, and see Eichelsheim is still "Head of the Netherlands Defence Intelligence and Security Service, MIVD".

After his training at the Royal Military Academy, Eichelsheim completed elementary flight training in 1990 and became a helicopter pilot. In 2000, he was responsible for the planning of the first deployment of an Apache detachment to Djibouti during UN operation UNMEE. In 2005, Eichelsheim became Commander of 302 Squadron, which he merged with 301 Squadron to form 1 squadron. So far, he has 5 deployments to his name: 3 to Bosnia and 2 to Afghanistan. Since April 2016, Eichelsheim has been Head of the Netherlands Defence Intelligence and Security Service, MIVD.

Here is how he fits in the org chart (Intel Directorate (Director) - "The Director of the MIVD is Onno Eichelsheim"



The link on the SOTT article at the bottom ties to the Duran (and the video mentioned above) with these final statements:

As you can see the Dutch military did a thorough job locating relevant Buk Telar positions in the conflict area in which MH17 was shot down. Let’s not forget that MIVD is a professional organization with contacts at highest NATO levels and with access to satellite images of ESA and many other sources.

Based on the information presented, the main conclusion we make is this: The Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service on 21 September 2016 (ONE WEEK before the JIT press-conference on 28th September 2016!) had no information from any reliable source that any Russian Buk-M1 had crossed the border with Ukraine during any time during the conflict.

It will be interesting to follow the court proceedings and study the evidence presented from other sources such as social media, and sources that base their conclusions on social media. Could it be that they are better informed than the military professionals who are trained and specialized to know these kind of things?

Yes, it will be interesting indeed if what MIVD wrote back then will be allowed to spill out into the JIT-court?

 

[Palinurus]

Yes, it will be interesting indeed if what MIVD wrote back then will be allowed to spill out into the JIT-court?

It's confusing the issue considerably to name it a 'JIT-court' because the JIT as such has nothing to do with it. They just have done the preliminary research and investigations to prepare a criminal case against four accused who will be brought to trial before a panel of three judges by the Public Prosecution Office, i.e. not by the JIT as such - let alone that the JIT would be allowed judging their own work all by themselves.

 

[Voyageur]

It's confusing the issue considerably to name it a 'JIT-court' because the JIT as such has nothing to do with it.

Yes, indeed you are correct, should have put it as spilling out from the 'JIT to the court,' the two not being synonymous with each other, although the evidence is collected in the former and heard/presented in that latter court (or it might be heard/presented in the latter) for judgement.

 

[Palinurus]

Source: Dutch army was ready to invade Ukraine after MH17 crash: report

Dutch army was ready to invade Ukraine after MH17 crash: report

By Janene Pieters on March 3, 2020 - 07:33

Just after flight MH17 was shot down in eastern Ukraine, the Dutch armed forces had concrete plans to enter the country and surround the disaster area - to safeguard evidence and remains, the Telegraaf reports [in Dutch] based on an interview with Commander of the Land Forces Martin Wijnen. This is the first time the Ministry of Defense confirms rumors of this mission, according to the newspaper.

The Ministry of Defense became involved very soon after the disaster, the newspaper wrote. The area where the Malaysia Airlines flight was shot down, was in the hands of armed pro-Russian separatists and the Ministry was worried that evidence and remains would be destroyed.

A thousand soldiers from the Netherlands' Airmobile Brigade were on standby to travel to Ukraine and secure the disaster area. They were told to be ready to travel "with only what fits in their backpacks". The plan was that they would take position around the area of the crash and hold it for a few days, so that rescue workers and forensic investigators could do their work. As many soldiers from Australia were also ready to go, according to the newspaper.

Despite the fact that it was summer vacation, Defense did not have a hard time getting a thousand soldiers together, according tot he newspaper. Even a soldier holidaying the jungle in South America volunteered to come home for the mission, but was told that he did not have to.

While Defense was still in the midst of preparing for the mission, the politicians in The Hague decided to cancel it. The rebels were cooperating, and they thought the mission unnecessary. After some struggle, the rebels allowed a train full of mortal remains to leave rebel territory for territory that was still in the hands of the Ukrainian government. And the remains were eventually repatriated.

Note:
the article continues with the by now usual mantra of recapped highlights from the MH17 investigation which I omitted

<snip>

Source (Dutch only): Bataljonscommandant over geheime MH17-operatie: ’Ik had supersoldaten’

A reconstruction:
Battalion commander on secret MH17 operation: 'I had super-soldiers'.

By Olof van Joolen - Today, 05:30 in Interior - Updated Today, 07:03

The Dutch army was on standby to be deployed in Ukraine for the repatriation of MH17 victims. A thousand soldiers, armed and all, were ready to board transport planes and head for the disaster area. At the very last moment, the operation was called off. For the first time, the Ministry of Defense gave openness.

The armed forces enter the picture almost immediately when the news from the disaster area begins to penetrate the Netherlands on Thursday 17 July 2014. The first images from Eastern Ukraine show how pro-Russian rebels, who control the area where Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 has perished, are fooling around with corpses, pilfering up precious items and erasing traces essential to the investigation into the cause of the tragedy. Prime Minister Rutte strongly condemns it the next day. "It's downright disgusting," said the Prime Minister.

Summer heat

To the public Rutte looks powerless, because that Saturday and Sunday there will be no improvement in the situation. The insurgents removed the mortal remains from the burning summer heat and stored them in refrigerated wagons. They now use the remains only as a bargaining chip. While the rebels striving for the independent people's Republic of Donetsk and the Ukrainian government are tugging over the contents of the cooling train, social pressure is growing in the Netherlands to send soldiers who can put an end to this terribly painful situation. There will even be a hashtag on social media: #bringthemhome. From the Ministry of Defense it remains silent.

Commander Land Forces Martin Wijnen - Ⓒ Ministry of Defense

Behind the scenes, the set-up of a secret military intervention is underway, feverishly. From Sunday, July 20, a staff is assembled at the Army headquarters to plan an operation. Commander of the Armed Forces Tom Middendorp has asked the army to come up with options. "The question was: we have a crash site we can't reach. How could you secure it to allow repatriation of the corpses? You work out different types of operations. From cautious to very heavy," explains Commander Land Forces Martin Wijnen.

Slippers

His predecessor Mart de Kruif goes that Sunday to the Oranjekazerne in Schaarsbergen to consult with the leadership of 11 Air Mobile Brigade. This unit has to get the job done precisely because it was established to operate anywhere in the world within a short period of time. De Kruif walks in on slippers. The lightness of the bright summer day and the heavy task his people are facing form a great contrast.

General de Kruif - Ⓒ ANP

The plan that De Kruif unfolds is based on a thousand Dutch soldiers who will enter the area lightly armed and with only what fits in their backpacks. The soldiers will take up positions around the 35 square kilometer area where parts of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 and the passengers' bodies have crashed, and will hold these positions independently for a few days. The military men then should enable relief workers and forensic investigators to do their job. They will receive support from as many Australian colleagues. Australia has lost 27 citizens in the MH17 disaster.

Improvisation

According to Martin Wijnen, it is a plan with a clear end goal, but to achieve that a lot of improvisation is needed. How is the battalion going to get to the crash site? There's no idea yet. The commander will have to arrange trucks or buses on the spot. The greatest uncertainty he faces is the extremely unstable situation in the disaster area. That's in the hands of separatists. How do you prevent Dutch soldiers from getting into battle with them? Militarily, our well-trained countrymen and Australians can handle them. But such a confrontation can lead to escalation. Not what you want with a large, heavily armed Russian force close by on the other side of the border.

The Air Mobile Brigade starts on Sunday July 20th with gathering everything needed for such a mission. It goes from big to small. The staff sends someone to a bookstore to get maps of the operation area. The newest Lonely Planet turns out to contain the best.

Although the disaster happens in the middle of the holiday season, getting enough staff is not a problem. Soldiers from all corners of the world report in. Even from the South American jungle a phone call comes in. "They told him he could stay there," says Wijnen. "Others booked tickets from Iceland and Thailand even before they were asked to report in. At quite a few campsites, people turned the paws back into their caravan and drove back home. When they explained that Daddy had to go to work because of MH17, their family always understood".

In the Netherlands, support units arrange in great haste ammunition, water and rations. It turns out that the associated procedures can be carried out at lightning speed. The unit is ready for departure within 48 hours. On the evening of Wednesday 23 July, the stand-by status became official. The next day battalion commander Cas Schreurs informs his people.

The commander can hear a pin drop when he starts his story. It is not that long after Uruzgan. A mission to which 11 Airmobile delivered many soldiers. Afghanistan veterans undergo the moment well seasoned. With newcomers, the tension is more visible. "But we all wanted to do it because the scale of this disaster had made a big impression on every soldier," says the officer. "I had faith in it. Everyone was well trained; I had super soldiers."

While Schreurs tells his story, his team is not complete yet. Part of the unit is still in Portugal for an exercise. The Ministry of Defense decides to bring the soldiers back at an accelerated pace so they can go straight to Ukraine. While they are airborne, the decision is made in The Hague to cancel the mission. There is movement in the matter.

Cooling train

On Monday, after a weekend of quarrel with the Ukrainian government, the rebels had let the cooling train with remains depart from the town of Torez. It arrives on Tuesday, July 22 in government area, in Kharkov. One day later, the first aircraft with coffined human remains can travel to the Netherlands by Hercules of the Royal Netherlands Air Force. Forensic research remains in Eastern Ukraine. This is possible with less massive surveillance, according to the Cabinet. The decision is taken to send forty unarmed military police officers.

Patchy pieces of information about the Ukraine mission that never came about, leaked out over time. No one at the Ministry of Defense spoke publicly about it. According to army boss Martin Wijnen, this is because the period had and still has some double meaning. "We are proud of what our people have put down," says the general. "At the same time, chest-knocking doesn't fit here against the background of all the suffering."


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

Also relevant (Dutch only):
Deze man moet de Landmacht weer vooruit helpen

 

[Palinurus]

The above story about a possible rescue mission that never came about, is contradicted by a John Helmer report which was mentioned previously in post #1050 (July 22, 2019) and carried on SOTT:

New MH17 Doc Reveals Evidence Tampering, Dutch Cover-up of Forged Recordings, Hidden Ukrainian Radar Records -- Sott.net

Notably this snippet is relevant:

The film reveals the Malaysian Government's evidence for judging the JIT's witness testimony, photographs, video clips, and telephone tapes to have been manipulated by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), and to be inadmissible in a criminal prosecution in a Malaysian or other national or international court.

For the first time also, the Malaysian Government reveals how it got in the way of attempts the US was organizing during the first week after the crash to launch a NATO military attack on eastern Ukraine. The cover story for that was to rescue the plane, passenger bodies, and evidence of what had caused the crash. In fact, the operation was aimed at defeating the separatist movements in the Donbass, and to move against Russian-held Crimea.

The new film reveals that a secret Malaysian military operation took custody of the MH17 black boxes on July 22, preventing the US and Ukraine from seizing them. The Malaysian operation, revealed in the film by the Malaysian Army colonel who led it, eliminated the evidence for the camouflage story, reinforcing the German Government's opposition to the armed attack, and forcing the Dutch to call off the invasion on July 27.

 

[Palinurus]

Archiving the latest from SOTT. This article from James O'Neill (New Eastern Outlook - Mon, 02 Mar 2020 00:00 UTC) gives a condensed overview of, and ample context for the latest revelations brought about by Max van der Werff and his partners, which were already reported here previously.

Some emerging truths about Ukraine and the crash of MH17 that was pinned on Russia -- Sott.net

 

[Palinurus]

Source: Russia tried to hinder, influence MH17 investigation on multiple fronts: Report

Russia tried to hinder, influence MH17 investigation on multiple fronts: Report

By Janene Pieters on March 5, 2020 - 16:20

Russia, and specifically the Russian secret service GRU, used multiple tactics to influence and hinder the investigation into the downing of flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine, the Volkskrant reports [in Dutch] based on sources and its own research just days before the trial against the first four suspects in this case is set to start. The Dutch investigators are convinced that these multiple attempts were unsuccessful, they said to the newspaper.

Flight MH17 was shot down in eastern Ukraine on 17 July 2014. All 298 people on board the Malaysian Airlines Boeing were killed, including 196 Dutch people. Immediately after the crash, the Dutch Safety Board (OVV) launched an investigation into its cause, according to the newspaper. Part of this was establishing contact with its Russian counterpart, the Russian Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK). Until this point, the Netherlands had a good relationship with MAK.

A few days later, it turned out that MAK had been replaced by a five-member state committee, with a team leader who previously worked for a Kremlin security service. According to the Volkskrant, this was likely the Russian government's first step to get a grip on the investigation.

Some weeks after the disaster, Malaysian pilots visited the Netherlands to translate the conversation that their colleagues who piloted MH17 had with each other on the disastrous flight. In that same period, two members of the GRU were in the Netherlands, the newspaper wrote. These were members of a notorious unit that was later allegedly involved in an attempt to poison a Bulgarian arms dealer in 2015, a failed coup in Montenegro in 2016, and the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Great Britain in 2018. One of the two who were in the Netherlands, is the leader of this unit. What they were doing in the Netherlands is not clear. "But a relationship with MH17 is obvious," one of the newspaper's sources said.

Six months later, it turned out that two former GRU members were part of the Russian state committee that was cooperating with the OVV in the MH17 investigation, according to the newspaper. One of them is a general in the Russian army. Shortly after the disaster, this general said in an interview that it was unlikely that the plane was shot down by a Russian BUK missile, as the OVV later determined was the case.

The Dutch military intelligence service MIVD kept an eye on these two former GRU members when they were in the Netherlands for a consultation with the investigative teams from all the countries involved in the MH17 investigation. After every meeting, they called a telephone number in the Kremlin. According to the Volkskrant, they mainly discussed how to "edit" the members of the Malaysian investigation team. Last year, the then Malaysian Prime Minister raised doubts about the Joint Investigation Team's findings and said that there was no hard evidence that Russia was responsible for the MH17 disaster.

When members of the OVV and the Dutch police were in the Ukraine for investigation, they were approached remarkably often by young women, who also spoke to them in Dutch, according to the newspaper. Their hotel rooms were also cleaned suspiciously often - sometimes three times a day. And when returning to the Netherlands, malware was found on the private telephones of investigators.

In the summer of 2015, suspicious people were found staying around the OVV office in The Hague. A bag with interview reports was stolen from a car owned by an OVV employee, and in 2016 flash disks were stolen from a Defense photographer during a burglary. The OVV reported also at least one attempt to hack the service, traced to hacker group Fancy Bear, which is linked to the GRU. And according to the Volkskrant, GRU members who tried to break into the computer network of the OPCW office in The Hague in 2018, were first in Rotterdam near the National Public Prosecution Office - where the criminal investigation into MH17 is taking place.

After the GRU members were caught targeting the OPCW office, the MIVD seized their equipment. On one laptop, the Dutch service found information showing that the team had been in Malaysia in 2017 to set up an operation against the Malaysian investigation team, the newspaper wrote.

The Dutch researchers are convinced that these attempts by Russia to influence and sabotage the investigation were not successful, according to the Volkskrant. The attempts did make the investigation more complicated - because of distrust - but did not influence the conclusions, investigators said to the newspaper.

Sources in Dutch:
Russische manipulatie en sabotage in MH17-onderzoek
Nieuwe aanwijzingen voor bemoeienis Russische GROe met MH17-onderzoeken
‘Russische MH17-onderzoekers geschaduwd door MIVD’
Onderzoeksleden hadden banden met Russische inlichtendienst

Other news, sideways related:
Ondanks MH17-proces blijft verdachte Girkin opduiken in Moskou

 

[angelburst29]

Source: MH17 witness identities to be kept secret at next month's trial - DutchNews.nl
The documents also show that the four suspects, who are unlikely to appear in court, all face charges of murder and manslaughter because they deliberately put an airplane in danger.

In other words, they're to be brought in to give false statements about an imaginary BUK, and their identities are to be masked so that no one can properly verify their claims or cross-examine the 'witnesses'.

It really does cause brain pain to realize this is actually what they are doing. It really is the twilight zone.

Dutch MH17 trial to start without Russian, Ukrainian suspects

March 6, 2020 - Four fugitive suspects go on trial in the Netherlands on Monday charged with the murder of 298 passengers and crew aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 which was shot down with a Russian-made missile over eastern Ukraine in July 2014.