Dutch Prosecutor Insists Witnesses In MH17 Crash Case Remain Anonymous

Sumaira FH Published November 12, 2020 | 07:30 PM

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th November, 2020) Dutch prosecutors believe that the anonymity of the witnesses in the case of downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014 is necessary to ensure their safety, and there are no reasons to disclose their identity, prosecutor Thijs Berger said on Wednesday.

The hearing on the criminal case resumed on Thursday at the Schiphol Judicial Complex located in the northern Dutch city of Badhoevedorp. Sabine ten Doesschate, the defender of Russian citizen Oleg Pulatov, claimed that the anonymity of the witnesses hinders the assessment of their testimony's reliability, as no one, including the judges, was not aware of their background.

"Concerning the anonymous witnesses ... The case materials contain certain information, which is confidential and unavailable to them [to the defense]. It was necessary to protect the witnesses. It should be treated seriously," Berger said.

The prosecutor added that an independent investigating magistrate had checked the reliability of each witness and the credibility of their testimony.

"There is a rule, according to which, if the defense can not attend the interrogation of witnesses, prosecutors are not present either," Berger said.

MH17 was shot down on July 17, 2014, in eastern Ukraine on its way to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam. All 298 people aboard died. Pulatov is one of four defendants, along with Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinsky, and Leonid Kharchenko, currently on trial at a court in the Netherlands in relation to the incident.

The Joint Investigative Team (JIT), which is looking into the case, believes that the Boeing was shot down with a weapon belonging to a Russian military unit. The JIT, headed by the Dutch prosecutors, does not include Russian representatives.

Russia said that it gave the Netherlands radar data and documents proving that the missile that hit the plane belonged to Ukraine and was launched from the territory controlled by Kiev. However, this information was not taken into account. The Russian Foreign Ministry called the JIT accusations against Russia one-sided and regrettable.