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
Saudi Arabia showcases work safety initiatives at Osaka Expo 2025
- Technology, training, incident reporting programs on show from July 16-19 in Japan
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is showcasing its advancements in occupational safety and health at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan, from July 16 to 19.
The Kingdom’s National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, under the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, and led by Secretary-General Majed Al-Fawiz, is participating in the Global Initiative for Safety, Health, and Well-being Conference.
The delegation at the event includes representatives from the Ministry of Energy and the private sector.
This participation is a part of the Kingdom’s broader efforts to highlight its advancements in occupational safety, health, and employee well-being under Vision 2030.
Saudi Arabia has an exhibition highlighting key programs, including cutting-edge technologies to improve work environments, training initiatives and incident reporting.
The council emphasized the Kingdom’s commitment to global collaboration, knowledge exchange, and leadership in building safe, healthy, and sustainable workplaces.
Ethiopia arrests dozens of suspected Daesh militants, Fana broadcaster reports
- The 82 suspects were part of Daesh’s Somalia affiliate
- The Daesh faction in Somalia has become an increasingly important part of its parent organization’s worldwide network
ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia has arrested dozens of suspected Daesh militants, who it claimed have been trained and deployed to carry out operations across the country, the state-affiliated Fana broadcaster reported.
The 82 suspects were part of Daesh’s Somalia affiliate, which operates in the semi-autonomous Puntland region, according to a statement by the National Intelligence Security Services which was shared with Fana.
The Daesh faction in Somalia has become an increasingly important part of its parent organization’s worldwide network in recent years.
“NISS has been closely monitoring the group’s cross-border infiltration strategies and its efforts to establish sleeper cells in Ethiopia,” Fana reported late on Tuesday.
With an estimated 700 to 1,500 fighters, Daesh’s Somalia wing has grown in recent years thanks to an influx of foreign fighters and increasing revenues.
But it is still much smaller than Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab militant group, which controls large parts of southern and central Somalia.
The US military has carried out periodic air strikes against the group for years and recently intensified the strikes since President Donald Trump took office.
Puntland government forces have captured large portions of territory from IS since announcing a major offensive against them in December.
One dead after Ukrainian drone attack on Russia, governor says
MOSCOW: One person has died in Russia's Voronezh region after being wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack, Voronezh Governor Alexander Gusev said on Wednesday on his Telegram channel.
Migration group head urges EU to bolster deportations
- The EU migration pact, adopted last year and set to come into force in June 2026, hardens procedures for asylum-seekers at its borders
VIENNA: The head of an influential EU-funded migration advisory body has urged the bloc to bolster expulsions of rejected asylum-seekers under its new migration pact and defended his group over human rights concerns.
The director general of the International Center for Migration Policy denied responsibility for what he called “individual cases” of human rights abuses by authorities in countries where his organization works.
Michael Spindelegger, a former vice chancellor from the conservative Austrian People’s Party, spoke in an interview with AFP as Brussels comes under pressure to keep out or deport migrants, with hard-right anti-immigration parties performing strongly across Europe.
The EU migration pact, adopted last year and set to come into force in June 2026, hardens procedures for asylum-seekers at its borders.
“It’s very important that a well-functioning return policy is established, also in the spirit of the pact,” Spindelegger told AFP.
“If someone comes, isn’t granted asylum, and then stays anyway, and nothing actually happens, that’s a very bad sign for the state of law,” said Spindelegger.
He added it was important to make sure those deported are re-integrated in their home countries so that they don’t leave again.
Currently fewer than 20 percent of people ordered to leave the bloc are returned to their country of origin, according to EU data.
In EU migration reforms, “the train is moving, that’s clear, but there are, of course, still various stations that need to be considered,” Spindelegger said.
“However, in my view, much has already been accomplished at the foundational level.”
The Vienna-based ICMPD advises the European Union authorities and others on migration policy and runs projects in Africa, Asia and Europe.
Human rights groups have repeatedly criticized it over overseas projects aimed at reducing the number of migrant arrivals in Europe.
It has worked with the Tunisian coast guards and Libyan authorities, which have been accused of mistreating migrants.
“I deeply regret whenever negative individual cases (of human rights abuse) persist. We cannot take responsibility for that,” Spindelegger said.
He insisted that training courses run by the ICMPD for border guards in migrant transit countries included training on human rights.
Lukas Gahleitner-Gertz, spokesman of rights group Asylkoordination Austria, dismissed that claim as “window dressing.”
“Cooperation is being advanced with regimes that have a highly doubtful human rights record,” Gahleitner-Gertz told AFP.
Spindelegger said an ICMPD-backed border guard training center built in Tunisia had been a “big success,” helping prepare hundreds of people for the job so far.
A similar training project has been launched in Jordan, while the ICMPD is looking to expand the scheme to Algeria.
Rights groups have also voiced concern at the European Commission’s plans, unveiled in May, to make it easier to send asylum seekers to certain third countries for their applications to be processed.
The proposal is seen as a step toward the creation of sites outside the bloc that would act as hubs for returning migrants.
It needs approval from the European Parliament and member states to become law.
The ICMPD counts 21 mostly EU countries as its members and has a staff of more than 500 people.
Founded by Austria and Switzerland in 1993, it works in more than 90 countries.
Among its members are EU countries such as Germany and Greece and non-EU members, including Turkiye. France, Italy and Spain are not members.
Since Spindelegger, 65, took over the center in 2016, the number of employees has grown four times bigger.
Its budget has increased by five times to more than 100 million euros ($120 million), he said.
Some 70 percent of the budget comes from the European Commission.
Spindelegger will retire at the end of the year. He is due to be replaced by another Austrian conservative politician, Susanne Raab.
State prosecution in firebombing attack on demonstration for Israeli hostages moves ahead
- Federal authorities say Soliman, an Egyptian national, had been living in the US illegally with his family at the time
DENVER: A judge ruled Tuesday that Colorado prosecutors can move ahead with their case against a man accused of killing one person and injuring a dozen more in a firebomb attack on demonstrators showing support for Israeli hostages in Gaza.
A police detective had been set to testify at a hearing explaining the evidence gathered against Mohamed Sabry Soliman in the June 1 attack on the weekly event in Boulder. But Soliman’s lawyer, Kathryn Herold, told Judge Nancy W. Salomone that he gave up his right to hear the evidence.
Soliman, wearing an orange and white striped jail uniform, told Salomone that he understood he was waiving his right to a hearing following a discussion with his lawyers Monday.
Despite that, prosecutors and victims who sat across the courtroom from Soliman or watched the hearing online were caught off guard by the decision.
Salomone said the case would now move ahead to an arraignment and scheduled a Sept. 9 hearing for Soliman to enter a plea to murder, attempted murder and other charges over the defense’s objection.
Herold said Soliman would not be ready to enter a plea then because of the large amount of evidence in the case and the murder charges recently added against him following the death of Karen Diamond, an 82-year-old woman injured in the attack. Herold said she expected to ask for the arraignment hearing to be delayed and suggested that a plea deal was possible.
20th Judicial District Attorney Michael Dougherty objected to a delay, saying any discussions could happen before and after an arraignment. He declined to comment on the possibility of a deal after the hearing.
Investigators say Soliman told them he intended to kill the roughly 20 participants at the weekly event on Boulder’s Pearl Street pedestrian mall. But he threw just two of more than two dozen Molotov cocktails he had with him while yelling, “Free Palestine!” Police said he told them he got scared because he had never hurt anyone before.
Federal authorities say Soliman, an Egyptian national, had been living in the US illegally with his family at the time.
Soliman has pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges and is scheduled to go on trial in federal court in Denver in September. However, his lawyers told US District Judge John L. Kane last week that they expect to ask for a delay.
Additional charges related to Diamond’s death could also slow down the federal proceedings. Assistant US Attorney Laura Cramer-Babycz told Kane that prosecutors have not decided yet whether to file additional charges against Soliman.
Federal prosecutors allege the victims were targeted because of their perceived or actual connection to Israel. But Soliman’s federal defense lawyers say he should not have been charged with hate crimes because the evidence shows he was motivated by opposition to Zionism, the political movement to establish and sustain a Jewish state in Israel.
An attack motivated by someone’s political views is not considered a hate crime under federal law.
State prosecutors have identified 29 victims in the attack. Thirteen of them were physically injured, and the others were nearby and are considered victims because they could have been hurt. A dog was also injured in the attack, so Soliman has also been charged with animal cruelty.
