Court frees MH17 case suspect Tsemakh on personal recognizance

The court issued a respective ruling on Thursday, September 5, having granted an appeal filed by Tsemakh's defense team, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"To apply to suspect Volodymyr Borysovych Tsemakh a measure of restraint in the form of personal recognizance. To release Volodymyr Borysovych Tsemakh from custody in the courtroom immediately," a court judge said.

The court also ordered Tsemakh to come to the investigator, prosecutor, or court when required, not to leave the locality in which he lives and stays without the permission of the investigator, prosecutor, or court, as well as to inform the investigator, prosecutor or court about the change of his place of residence and work.

The ruling is final and cannot be appealed.

The full text of the ruling will be read out at 10:00 on September 6.

In late June this year, Ukrainian special services detained former "air defense commander" of the town of Snizhne Volodymyr Tsemakh in the territory of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic."

On June 28, Tsemakh was taken to Kyiv, and on June 29, Shevchenkivsky District Court ruled to arrest him for two months.

Tsemakh is suspected of committing a criminal offense provided for in Part 1 of Article 258-3 (the creation of a terrorist group or terrorist organization) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

In an interview with a separatist media outlet, Tsemakh openly spoke about the crash of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 and even confirmed that a missile had been launched from a Buk air defense missile system.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over Donbas in July 2014. There were 283 passengers and 15 crewmembers on board the plane. All of them died.

In September 2016, the JIT said it had been established on the basis of irrefutable evidence that the plane had been shot down by a 9M38 Buk missile launched from the territory controlled by pro-Russian militants in the eastern part of Ukraine. In addition, the JIT said on May 24 that the Buk missile system from which the aircraft was downed belongs to the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces stationed in Kursk.

In May 2018, the Netherlands and Australia officially stated that they hold the Russian state legally responsible for the downing of MH17.

op