SCHIPHOL, Netherlands: Three Russians and a Ukrainian went on trial in the Netherlands on Monday, charged with multiple counts of murder for their alleged involvement in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which killed all 298 people aboard.
As expected, the suspects did not appear in the courtroom.
It’s a day that has been a long time coming for family and friends of those killed on July 17, 2014, when a Buk missile blew MH17 out of the sky above conflict-torn eastern Ukraine.
Five black-robed judges — three who will hear the case and two alternates — filed silently into a packed courtroom on the edge of Schiphol, the airport from which the doomed flight took off, heading for Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. A small number of family members of victims were in court, others watched proceedings via a video link from a conference center in the central Netherlands.
Among those in court was Piet Ploeg, who lost his brother, Alex, his sister-in-law and his nephew. Ploeg sat in court, his hands folded in front of him, listening attentively as the case started.
“Next of kin want justice, simple as that,” he said. “We want justice for the fact that 298 people are murdered, and this court and the hearings (that) will start today will give us more clarity about what happened, why it happened and who was responsible for it.”
Presiding Judge Hendrik Steenhuis said the criminal file in the case contains some 36,000 pages and “an enormous amount of multimedia files.”
Examining the evidence “will be a very painful and emotional period. There are many victims and of course because of that there are many next of kin,” Steenhuis said.
Jon and Meryn O’Brien flew all the way from Sydney to witness the start of the unprecedented Dutch trial, hoping for justice for their son Jack.
“The trial is important because the truth still matters,” Jon said on the eve of the trial. “You shouldn’t be able to murder 298 people and for there to be no consequences, regardless of who you are. So, it’s important the truth about that is told.”
The O’Briens were among families who arranged 298 white chairs in rows resembling aircraft seating outside the Russian Embassy in The Hague on Sunday to protest what they see as Moscow’s deliberate attempts to obscure the truth about what happened.
After a painstaking investigation spanning years, an international team of investigators and prosecutors last year named four suspects: Russians Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy and Oleg Pulatov as well as Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko. More suspects could face charges as the investigations continue.
Under Dutch law, the trial can continue even if the suspects don’t show up. One suspect, Pulatov, hired a firm of Dutch lawyers to represent him. The lawyers involved declined to comment. He also had a Russian lawyer in court, Steenhuis said.
Russia has consistently denied involvement in the downing, even after prosecutors alleged that the Buk missile system which destroyed the passenger plane was transported into Ukraine from the Russian 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade’s base in Kursk and the launching system was then returned to Russia.
In Moscow last week, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused investigators of presuming Russia’s guilt.
In a statement, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called the trial “an important milestone toward accountability for the shooting down of MH17” and the deaths of 298 people, including 10 Britons.
Raab said Russia “must now cooperate fully with this trial in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2166. There can be no impunity for those responsible for this appalling crime.”
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo welcomed the start of the trial and called on Russia “to cease its continuing aggressive and destabilizing activities in Ukraine.”
The case is a regular Dutch criminal trial with an unprecedented number of victims.
At Monday’s opening, the judges will take stock of the investigation and consider whether further investigations are necessary before deciding how to continue, said legal expert Marieke de Hoon of Amsterdam’s Vrije University.
“So, it’s a little bit of both is both ordinary and extraordinary at the same time,” De Hoon said.
Under Dutch law, family members are allowed to make victim impact statements and seek compensation. That will likely happen sometime later this year.
“For me, the most important thing (is) will there be enough evidence that the judge can make a conclusion: Guilty,” said Anton Kotte, who lost three family members. “If that’s the case then I will be satisfied because I know at that moment another level will be attacked — a political level will be attacked worldwide in the direction of Russia.”
Trial of 4 suspects in downing of flight MH17 opens
https://arab.news/5uwqu
Trial of 4 suspects in downing of flight MH17 opens
- A Buk missile blew Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 out of the sky above conflict-torn eastern Ukraine in 2014
- US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo welcomed the start of the trial
India deports Myanmar refugees who fled 2021 coup
- At least 38 refugees were deported on Thursday by the border state of Manipur
- ndia is not a signatory to the1951 UN Refugee Convention and has no law protecting refugees
GUWAHATI, India: India on Thursday deported the first group of Myanmar refugees who had sought shelter after a 2021 military coup, a top state minister said, following weeks of efforts that were hampered by fighting between Myanmar’s rebel forces and the ruling junta.
Thousands of civilians and hundreds of troops from Myanmar have crossed the border to India after the coup. This has worried New Delhi, which has announced plans to fence its border with Myanmar and end a visa-free movement policy.
At least 38 refugees were deported on Thursday by the border state of Manipur, which plans send back a total of 77 people as it copes with sporadic violence that has killed at least 220 people since ethnic clashes broke out in May last year.
“Without any discrimination, we have completed the first phase of deportation of illegal immigrants from Myanmar,” Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh said in a social media post. “The state government is continuing the identification of illegal immigrants.”
One Indian national was also repatriated by Myanmar, Singh added.
New Delhi has not signed the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, which spells out refugee rights and states’ responsibilities to protect them, and it does not have its own laws protecting refugees.
Singh, who is from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, said in March deportations had begun, but Indian security officials said the efforts were held up by fighting in Myanmar.
Modi is seeking a rare third straight term in ongoing national elections and his government has blamed the refugee influx as one reason for violence that has roiled Manipur.
Britain’s foreign secretary, in Kyiv, promises Ukraine aid for ‘as long as it takes’
- Cameron said Ukraine had a right to use the weapons provided by London to strike targets inside Russia
- 8 children injured in Russian strikes in Kharkiv region amid Cameron's visit
KYIV: British Foreign Secretary David Cameron promised three billion pounds ($3.74 billion) of annual military aid for Ukraine for “as long as it takes” on Thursday, adding that London had no objection to the weapons being used inside Russia.
“We will give three billion pounds every year for as long as is necessary. We’ve just really emptied all we can in terms of giving equipment,” he told Reuters in an interview on a visit to in Kyiv, adding that the aid package was the largest from the UK so far.
“Some of that (equipment) is actually arriving in Ukraine today, while I’m here,” he said.
Cameron said Ukraine had a right to use the weapons provided by London to strike targets inside Russia, and that it was up to Kyiv whether to do so.
“Ukraine has that right. Just as Russia is striking inside Ukraine, you can quite understand why Ukraine feels the need to make sure it’s defending itself,” Cameron told Reuters outside St. Michael’s Cathedral.
Cameron, who led the UK from 2010 and 2016 as prime minister and only returned to frontline politics several months ago, met Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and President Volodymyr Zelensky on his second visit to Kyiv as foreign secretary.
Britain’s top diplomat celebrated the release of a long-delayed $60 billion aid package by the US Congress.
“It’s absolutely crucial, not just in terms of the weapons it will bring, but also the boost to morale that it will bring to people here in Ukraine.”
Cameron did not answer directly when asked how he thought the possible re-election of Republican frontrunner Donald Trump to the White House could affect US support for Ukraine.
Trump and hard-line Republicans in Congress oppose further aid to Ukraine, with the possible exception of a loan.
“It’s not for us to decide who the Americans choose as their president — we will work with whoever that is,” Cameron said, adding that the strategy for Ukraine’s allies ought to be to ensure Ukraine is on the front foot by the time of the US elections in November.
Cameron met Ukraine’s FM Dmytro Kuleba and President Volodymyr Zelensky on his second visit to Kyiv as foreign secretary
Britain’s top diplomat celebrated the release of a long-delayed $60 billion aid package by the US Congress.
Russian strike injures 8 children
While Cameron was in Ukraine, Russian guided bombs struck a site close to a sports complex in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region, injuring at least eight children, local officials said.
The town of Derhachi where the incident occurred is a frequent target of Russian aerial strikes. Police said the bombs had landed on premises near the sports centre, sparking fires.
"The air raid siren didn't sound, there was no siren at all," Yana Korobets, head of the sports complex, told Reuters Television.
"I was outside when... I heard a missile fly by. I understood it landed behind our sports complex. It blew out the windows, and because the children are barefoot in our class they suffered cuts in their legs and their hands."
Debris from shattered glass was strewn about the complex. Blood stains were spattered on a wall and on the floor. Outside, the ground was pocked with large craters.
Four of the children suffered moderate injuries and the others minor ones, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said on the Telegram messaging app. An elderly man was also wounded.
"The consequences could have been more tragic," Synehubov told national TV.
Derhachi is near the border with Russia. The Kharkiv region where it is located has long been targeted by Russian attacks but the strikes have become more intense in recent months, hitting civilian and energy infrastructure.
Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians but thousands have been killed and injured in the war that began with the full-scale invasion of Moscow troops in February 2022.
Russia shipping fuel to North Korea above UN cap, says US
- Under UN sanctions, Pyongyang is limited to importing 500,000 barrels of refined products a year
- Last March, the US and South Korea in March launched a task force aimed at preventing North Korea from procuring illicit oil
WASHINGTON: Russia has been quietly shipping refined petroleum to North Korea at levels that appear to violate a cap imposed by the United Nations Security Council, the White House said on Thursday, with new sanctions to come soon in response.
The disclosure came on the first day after a UN panel of experts monitoring enforcement of longstanding UN sanctions against North Korea for its nuclear weapons and missile programs was disbanded after a Russian veto.
“At the same time that Moscow vetoed the panel’s mandate renewal, Russia has been shipping refined petroleum from Port Vostochny to the DPRK (North Korea),” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.
Under UN sanctions, Pyongyang is limited to importing 500,000 barrels of refined products a year. The Russian and North Korean UN missions in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the US accusation.
Kirby said that in March alone, Russia shipped more than 165,000 barrels of refined petroleum to North Korea and that given the close proximity of Russian and North Korean commercial ports, Russia could sustain these shipments indefinitely.
Russia blocked the annual renewal of the UN sanctions monitors in late March in what a US official described as a calculated move by Moscow to hide its own violations of UN Security Council resolutions.
Kirby said the United States will continue to impose sanctions “against those working to facilitate arms and refined petroleum transfers between Russia and the DPRK.” North Korea is formally known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“We have previously worked to coordinate autonomous sanctions designations with our partners — including Australia, the European Union, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, and the United Kingdom — and we will continue to do so,” he said.
State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said the United States and its allies are working to announce “new coordinated sanctions designations this month.”
The US and South Korea in March launched a task force aimed at preventing North Korea from procuring illicit oil.
The US and others have also accused North Korea of transferring weapons to Russia for use against Ukraine, which it invaded in February 2022. Both Moscow and Pyongyang deny the accusations, but vowed last year to deepen military relations.
The debris from a missile that landed in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Jan. 2 was from a North Korean Hwasong-11 series ballistic missile, UN sanctions monitors told a Security Council committee in a report seen by Reuters on Monday.
Kenya, Tanzania brace for cyclone as heavy rains persist
- The two East African neighbors are still recovering from last weeks devastating floods
- Kenya reported about 200 dead while Tanzaia said at least 155 died in floods and landslides
NAIROBI: Kenya and Tanzania were bracing Thursday for a cyclone on the heels of torrential rains that have devastated East Africa, killing more than 350 people and forcing tens of thousands from their homes.
In addition to claiming 188 lives in Kenya since March, the floods have displaced 165,000 people, with 90 reported missing, the interior ministry said, as the government warned citizens to remain on alert.
“Crucially, the coastal region is likely to experience Cyclone Hidaya, which will result in heavy rainfall, large waves and strong winds that could affect marine activities in the Indian Ocean,” the office of Kenyan President William Ruto said.
Neighbouring Tanzania, where at least 155 people have been killed in flooding and landslides, is also expected to feel the force of Hidaya.
“The presence of Hidaya Cyclone... is expected to dominate and affect the weather patterns in the country including heavy rain and strong winds in some Regions near Indian Ocean,” Tanzania Red Cross Society said on X, formerly Twitter.
Kenya’s capital Nairobi is among the areas expected to suffer heavy rains over the next three days, the Kenya Meteorological Department said on X, warning of strong winds and large ocean waves along the country’s coastline.
The forecaster urged residents to be vigilant for flash floods and lightning strikes, adding that strong winds could “blow off roofs, uproot trees” and cause other damage.
The heavier than usual rains have also claimed at least 29 lives in Burundi, with 175 people injured, and tens of thousands displaced since September last year, the United Nations said.
Earlier this week Ruto announced he was deploying Kenya’s military to evacuate everyone living in flood-prone areas.
In a bulletin released Thursday evening, the interior ministry ordered anyone living close to major rivers or near 178 “filled up or near filled up dams or water reservoirs” to vacate the area within 24 hours, warning that they would otherwise face “mandatory evacuation for their safety.”
The devastation has also affected Kenya’s tourism sector — a key economic driver — with some 100 tourists marooned in the famed Maasai Mara wildlife reserve on Wednesday after a river overflowed, flooding lodges and safari camps.
Rescuers later managed to evacuate 90 people by ground and air, the interior ministry said.
The area is currently inaccessible with bridges washed away, Narok West sub-county administrator Stephen Nakola told AFP, adding that about 50 camps in the reserve have been affected, putting more than 500 locals temporarily out of work.
There are no fatalities but communities living around the area have been forced to move away.
“Accessing the Mara is now a nightmare and the people stuck there are really worried, they don’t have an exit route,” Nakola said, adding that waterborne diseases were likely to emerge.
“I am worried that the situation could get worse because the rains are still on.”
In the deadliest single incident in Kenya, dozens of villagers were killed when a dam burst on Monday near Mai Mahiu in the Rift Valley, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) north of Nairobi.
The interior ministry said 52 bodies had been recovered and 51 people were still missing after the dam disaster.
Opposition politicians and lobby groups have accused Ruto’s government of being unprepared and slow to respond to the crisis despite weather warnings.
“Kenya’s government has a human rights obligation to prevent foreseeable harm from climate change and extreme weather events and to protect people when a disaster strikes,” Human Rights Watch said Thursday.
The United States and Britain have issued travel warnings for Kenya, urging their nationals to be cautious amid the extreme weather.
The devastation has sparked an outpouring of condolences and pledges of solidarity from all over the world, including from Pope Francis and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
The rains have been amplified by the El Nino weather pattern — a naturally occurring climate phenomenon typically associated with increased heat worldwide, leading to drought in some parts of the world and heavy downpours elsewhere.
UK’s foreign secretary supported arms sales to Israel days after British aid workers killed in Israeli strike
- Attack on World Central Kitchen convoy killed 7 people in total
LONDON: Britain’s foreign secretary recommended that the UK continue selling arms to Israel just days after an Israeli strike on a World Central Kitchen convoy killed three British aid workers.
David Cameron supported the continuation of arms sales two days after the strike on April 1, and the Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch approved the decision on April 8, The Guardian reported on Thursday.
Cameron said earlier this week that the strike that killed the Britons, in addition to four aid workers of other nationalities, revealed systemic and personal failures by members of the Israel Defense Forces.
Cameron’s decision seems to have been based on an assessment of Israeli compliance with humanitarian law that did not cover the deaths of the aid workers due to a time lag in the government’s process for deciding if British arms exports were at risk of being used to commit war crimes.
There was a possibility that the business department’s assessment did not cover any incidents after Jan. 28.
An update on the handling of arms export licenses that took into consideration events up until the end of February was prepared, but the British Foreign Office has declined to say if that was included in the advice given to ministers.
Opposition Labour MPs claim the time delay means there is a possibility that no comprehensive ministerial-level assessment of Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza has been made in the last three months.
Lawyers and campaigners who have examined the evidence provided by the Foreign Office have come to the same conclusion.
World Central Kitchen said on Monday it would resume operations in the Gaza Strip, a month after the Israeli airstrike.
Prior to halting operations, WCK had distributed more than 43 million meals in Gaza since October, representing by its own accounts 62 percent of all international nongovernmental aid.
