One suspect in MH17 trial to be represented in court, judge confirms

MH17 TRIAL | At least one of the four suspects in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in July 2014 will be represented in court in the murder trial of its 298 passengers and crew on Monday.

This is confirmed by a press judge at the District Court of the Hague, Yolande Wijnnobel, on Friday.

However, the three others, including two Russians and a Ukrainian linked to the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), are yet known to be making an appearance or any representation.

"Indeed two lawyers intend to represent one of the suspects in court.

"The names of the lawyers are on their website, and so is the name of the suspect. We as representatives of the court, consider that as a matter of privacy," said Wijnnobel when met at the press centre of the Schiphol courts complex.

For the record, the trial is to be presided by a panel of three judges of the District Court of The Hague, but will be conducted in the Schiphol Judicial Complex which has adequate facilities for the proceedings of global attention.

While she did not name the suspect and lawyers he engaged for the trial, Wijnnobel was referring to Oleg Polatov - a former Russian military officer who has been identified by the Netherlands Public Prosecution Services (NPPS) as one of those responsible for the incident.

A Dutch law firm had in February announced that two of its partners, Boudewijn van Eijck and Sabine ten Doesschate, together with a Russian lawyer are going to defend one of the suspects.

While the Dutch lawyers declined to disclose the identity of their client, the Russian lawyer Yelena Kutyina had told Russian news agency Tass that they would be representing Polatov.

According to the NPPS, Polatov is also known as Giurza and was formedly attached to the Russian Spetznaz-GRU, the special units of the Russian military intelligence service.

Polatov was deputy head of the intelligence service of the self-proclaimed DPR in 2014.

The other three have been identified as Igor Girkin, a former colonel of the Russian Federal Security Service or FSB; Sergey Dubinskiy, a former military officer of the GRU; and Leonid Kharchenko, who is the only Ukrainian suspect.

"If no counsel appears for those other three suspects, then the court will focus on whether those suspects were correctly summoned to the proceedings," Wijnnobel added.

Should the court find that the suspects knew of the proceeding to start on Monday, they would then need to decide for a trial in absentia.

According to the prosecution services office, the four suspects are being summoned in order to account for their role in bringing down flight MH17 in court.

They will be prosecuted for causing the crash of MH17, resulting in the death of all persons on board, and for the murder of the 298 persons on board.

For the offences, each suspect will be charged under Section 168 and Section 289 of the Dutch Criminal Code, each punishable with life imprisonment, or a determinate term of imprisonment not exceeding thirty years.

Trial will kickstart with procedural matters

The much-anticipated proceedings may not have much action when it starts on Monday as the court will need to address procedural matters first, which can take up four days.

According to Wijnnobel (below), the objective of the hearing on Monday is to "take stock" on how the case has progressed thus far.

This includes recording parties who have appeared in court, including counsels and also family members of the victims.

The presiding judges will also look into the case file and inquire the prosecutor in charge on whether they should expect more materials to be included.

The defence team, if any, will also be asked if they had the chance to study the case and if they have any requests.

"There is a great deal of procedural matters which the judges will want to cover on Monday. And it certainly will be too early for the judges to consider the actual merit of the case," she said.

Asked on the increasing concern over the global spread of Covid-19, Wijnnobel said they are monitoring the situation and under the advice of the Netherlands' public health institution.

So far there are no plans to postpone the case. - Mkini