Prosecutor holds suspects MH17 jointly responsible: 'They saw the BUK firing as their own achievement'
MH17 trial Although the four suspects in the MH17 trial did not press the button of the BUK missile themselves, they are guilty of complicity in the murder of the 298 occupants because of their active role in the deployment. This was stated by the Public Prosecutor's Office today in court in support of the sentencing demands tomorrow.
Tonny van der Mee 21-12-21, 16:12
On the second day of the indictment, the prosecution listed all the facts and evidence against the defendants Igor Girkin, Sergei Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and Leonid Khartshenko.
The prosecution reconstructed once again how the Buk-Telar missile system in question was driven from Russia to the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Donetsk (DNR) on the night of July 16-17, and then to an agricultural field near Pervomaiski, south of the city of Snizhne, on the morning of the air disaster.
Based on satellite images and eyewitnesses, the prosecution concludes that the BUK missile was fired from that field at flight MH17, which at the time was 34 kilometers away at an altitude of 10 kilometers towards Kuala Lumpur with 298 occupants.
Smoke trail
Witnesses saw the firing of the missile and the vertical smoke trail, heard explosions "so loud that their windows vibrated" half a minute later, and then saw "pieces of aircraft fall down in a fanned-out way. Based on expert image analyses, the Justice Department linked the smoke trail to the firing location at Pervomajski.
Although the BUK installation was rushed away, the traces remained clearly visible on satellite images: a black spot in the field that had caught fire when it was launched.
The Prosecution showed how the separatists then reacted. At 4:21 p.m., one minute after MH17 disappeared from radar, the first reports appeared on social media about the shooting down of a plane. The separatists proudly told that they had shot down a Ukrainian fighter plane (Sushka).
Children's toys
Witness M58, who was at the firing site, according to the prosecution, tearfully recounted in his interrogation how euphoria turned to bewilderment after rebels visited the disaster site. ,,We were very happy, because they said to us that a military transport plane had been hit. That's what everyone said. After an hour, they returned. They looked gloomy. They said, 'It's not a military plane. There are children's toys all around'."
As more and more reports trickled in worldwide that a passenger plane had crashed in eastern Ukraine, there was initial confusion among the suspects. They thought it was about two different planes, tap conversations between the suspects in the hours after the disaster show.
''From that moment on, suspects spring into action and their conversations change color,'' argues prosecutor Manon Ridderbeks. First they talked excitedly about a military plane that was shot down. When it turns out that a passenger plane was downed, the story changes.''
Entire world
Garrison commander Khartshenko claimed in talks with his superiors that the separatists had shot down a Ukrainian fighter plane, which "one minute before" would have shot down a "Chinese passenger plane." ''The whole world will be talking about it,'' Pulatov said in a conversation. Girkin, military commander, doubted that reading: ''Honestly, I don't believe much of it.''
The prosecution rejects that scenario. ''Neither Russian nor Ukrainian primary radar images contain the registration of a military aircraft in the vicinity of flight MH17,'' says prosecutor Ridderbeks. ''No one has ever found wreckage from a plane other than MH17.''
At the DNR headquarters in Donetsk, Girkin ordered the BUK installation to be removed as soon as possible. There was frequent telephone contact about this between suspects. The removal was chaotic: the crew of the BUK installation was nowhere to be found, and the people who supervised the transport could not be reached. Finally, in the night of 17 to 18 July, the flatbed truck with the Buk-Telar crossed the border at the border town of Severny into Russia.
Fragment particles
According to the prosecution, there is a "considerable amount of evidence" that MH17 was shot out of the sky by a BUK missile. This is evidenced by the 370 metal fragment particles found in wreckage, flight documents and bodies of victims. These can be traced to the warhead of a BUK missile, according to the Justice Department. ,,There is only one conclusion: MH17 was brought down with a BUK missile. Traces pointing to another weapon were not found.''
Moreover, according to the justice department, it is certain that the Buk-Telar came from 53rd anti-aircraft brigade in the Russian city of Kursk.
On the role and responsibility of the four suspects, the judiciary is clear. Girkin, Dubinsky, Pulatov and Khartshenko formed a "tightly-knit perpetrator group within the Donetsk People's Republic, focused on violent crimes against Ukrainian aircraft" since May 2014.
Although they denied any involvement in interviews and statements, they spoke affectionately among themselves about "our BUK" or - in code words - the "box" and "toy." ''They considered the Buk-Telar to be their weapon and the rocket they fired to be their achievement,'' says prosecutor Thijs Berger.
Steering role
Even though the four suspects were not physically present when the BUK missile was fired at flight MH17, they are still responsible in a legal sense, according to the judiciary, because of their "directing military role." "That they didn't push the button themselves is legally irrelevant," says prosecutor Berger.
"Someone who causes another person to commit a crime can also be convicted as the perpetrator of that crime. These four defendants used the Buk-Telar as their own instrument to shoot down an aircraft. They worked together intensively, there was a clear division of labor between them, and all the defendants had an active and essential role in the preparation and handling of the crime. Therefore, they are jointly responsible.''
Tomorrow, the prosecutor's office will present the punishment demands. The four suspects are charged with the deliberate downing of a plane and the murder of 298 people. Berger: "Whoever organizes a crime, facilitates it, actively contributes to it and excitedly discusses it afterwards is criminally responsible for that crime."
The maximum penalty for this is a life sentence. A verdict is not expected until the autumn of 2022.
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