Almost 6 A long time After MH17 Was Shot Down, Dutch Prosecutors Say They Will Sue Russia : NPR

A male carrying armed service fatigues stands upcoming to the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines MH17 carrying 298 passengers and crew, that crashed in jap Ukraine six many years in the past.

Dominique Faget/AFP by using Getty Pictures

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A male sporting navy fatigues stands subsequent to the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines MH17 carrying 298 travellers and crew, that crashed in eastern Ukraine 6 several years ago.

Dominique Faget/AFP by means of Getty Illustrations or photos

The Netherlands claimed Friday that it will sue Russia at the European Court of Human Rights for Moscow’s alleged function in the capturing down of an airliner about Ukraine six several years back that killed all 298 aboard, two-thirds of whom were Dutch.

Russia has denied any involvement in the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, which went down on July 17, 2014. Even so, Dutch investigators have concluded that the Boeing 777 was strike by a surface-to-air missile supplied to pro-Russian rebels in japanese Ukraine. A comparable summary is commonly acknowledged by Western intelligence.

“Accomplishing justice for 298 victims of the downing of Flight MH17 is and will continue to be the government’s greatest precedence,” Foreign Minister Stef Blok mentioned. “By taking this action today … we are shifting nearer to this intention.”

In a letter to parliament, the Dutch government mentioned it hopes to get “real truth, justice and accountability” for these who died in the crash.

M.V. Zakharova, a Russian international ministry spokesperson, called the move by the Netherlands “a further blow to Russian-Dutch relations.”

“The Hague from the very beginning embarked on the route of unilateral blaming Russia for the crash of flight MH17,” the spokesperson explained in a assertion. “We believe that this action will only direct to even further politicization and will complicate the look for for truth of the matter.”

Previous year, Dutch prosecutors billed 4 people today – 3 Russians and just one Ukrainian who it explained ended up dependable for downing the jetliner. The most popular of the four is Igor Girkin, who prosecutors contend is a former Russian intelligence officer who operated out of the rebel-held jap city of Donetsk.

Girkin has denied that the rebels shot down the plane.

Russia refuses to extradite its citizens and the Ukrainian billed is considered to have obtained a Russian passport. As a result, the four are being tried using in abstentia in a Dutch court.

Investigators concluded that Russian forces transferred a Buk cellular surface area-to-air missile battery to the rebels, who used it to shoot down the airliner, very likely because they mistook it for a Ukrainian armed service transportation.

The accommodate versus Russia is meant to aid particular person cases introduced by family members of 65 of the Dutch victims.

“Numerous kinfolk have started techniques and have now entered a section the place they want evidence,” Blok wrote in his letter to parliament. “We have that evidence and furnishing it to the court docket by commencing this technique is the greatest way to help them.”