Dutch Prosecution Aware Of Arrest Reports Of Key MH17 Suspect In Donetsk, Has No Details

The National Public Prosecutor's Office of the Netherlands is aware of a media report saying that one of the key suspects in the 2014 MH17 crash case Ukrainian national Leonid Kharchenko was arrested on unrelated charges in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, but it does not have information on its reliability, spokeswoman Brechtje van de Moosdijk told Sputnik on Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th May, 2020) The National Public Prosecutor's Office of the Netherlands is aware of a media report saying that one of the key suspects in the 2014 MH17 crash case Ukrainian national Leonid Kharchenko was arrested on unrelated charges in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, but it does not have information on its reliability, spokeswoman Brechtje van de Moosdijk told Sputnik on Friday.

On Thursday, the BBC broadcaster reported, citing a source, that Kharchenko was arrested in the city of Donetsk near his home on March 11 for conducting an illegal search in 2014 and the illegal possession of weapons. It took place around the time the murder trial against the MH17 suspects began in the Netherlands. According to the source, Kharchenko's arrest was extended on May 8 for another two months.

"The Public Prosecution Service is aware of the BBC publication. I cannot say if it's true," Moosdijk said, adding that the Donetsk People's Republic is inaccessible to the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which is investigating the MH17 plane crash, as it is not under Kiev's control.

The hearings in the case of the MH17 crash in eastern Ukraine were held at the Schiphol Judicial Complex near Amsterdam from March 9-10. Kharchenko along with Russian nationals Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinsky and Oleg Pulatov are defendants in absentia. The hearings will resume on June 8 with limited attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crashed on July 17, 2014, in eastern Ukraine while en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 298 people aboard. Kiev and the self-proclaimed republics in Ukraine's east have exchanged blame for the downing of the plane.

The accident is being investigated by Dutch prosecutors and the JIT, which claim that the plane was hit by a Buk missile that belonged to the Russian armed forces. Moscow has repeatedly denied involvement in the incident and has called the JIT investigation biased, as Russia's evidence showing that the plane had been shot down by a Ukrainian Buk missile has been ignored by investigators.