Ukraine’s Prosecutor General discusses MH17 case with Dutch ambassador

As the Prosecutor General’s Office reports, the parties talked through cooperation in environmental protection, cybersecurity, digitalization, and investment protection.

“The parties touched upon the sensitive for both countries case of the downing of Flight MH17 in the sky over Ukraine. The Prosecutor General and the head of the War Department at the Prosecutor General’s Office stressed that Ukrainian prosecutors and investigators were doing everything possible for a common goal – to identify all those who gave orders, persons involved in transporting Buk missile system and launching missiles,” reads the statement.

According to the Prosecutor General, “the case of the Malaysian Airlines Flight hurts the whole world.” She also said that the Office was closely following the trial of four defendants in the Dutch national court and providing everything necessary to assist the Dutch colleagues.

Venediktova said that Ukraine planned to establish an international council under the Prosecutor General to effectively cooperate with international courts and use the legal experience of other countries that went through the armed conflicts.

The Ambassador of the Netherlands stated that a group of Dutch prosecutors and investigators was ready to come to Ukraine to work out further steps in the MH17 case. The parties also discussed the possibility of a visit of the Public Prosecutor of the Netherlands to Ukraine.

The Ambassador noted that the Dutch law enforcement officers would be willing to cooperate and share the experience with Ukrainian colleagues in other areas as well.

The Prosecutor General stressed that the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office was currently being transformed into a world-class institution and studying the best practices.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over occupied area of Donetsk region on July 17, 2014. There were 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board. All of them died. The international Joint Investigation Team reported that the plane had been shot down from a Buk missile system that belonged to the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces stationed in Kursk.

On June 19, 2019, the JIT named four suspects believed to be involved in the transportation and combat use of the Buk missile system, from which MH17 flight had been downed. Three of them are Russians: Igor Girkin (Strelkov), former colonel in Russia's FSB intelligence service and former so-called defense minister of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic"; Sergey Dubinskiy, general (at the time of downing – colonel) of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and head of the so-called "Main Intelligence Directorate of the Donetsk People’s Republic"; Oleg Pulatov, lieutenant colonel of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. The fourth suspect is Leonid Kharchenko, a Ukrainian civilian, who fought on the side of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic.

In March 2020, the District Court of The Hague began the consideration of the case over the downing of Flight MH17.

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