Key MH17 suspect detained in East Ukraine: BBC Russia

A key suspect in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was detained on unrelated charges in eastern Ukraine around the time the murder trial against the MH17 suspects started in the Netherlands this spring, BBC Russia reported Thursday. Former field commander Leonid Kharchenko, 47, is the only Ukrainian passport-holder among four suspects named by the Dutch-led investigation into the tragedy that killed all 298 people on board flight MH17 in July 2014. The other three are Russian nationals who, like Kharchenko, are expected to be tried in absentia. Pro-Russian authorities in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic arrested Kharchenko near his home on March 11, BBC Russia cited an unnamed former commander who had served with Kharchenko as saying. He was reportedly charged with illegal possession of firearms and an illegal search. The MH17 trial began on March 9. Former fellow soldiers say they believe that the pro-Russian authorities pressed what they call “ridiculous” charges against Kharchenko in order to shield him from a kidnapping attempt by Ukraine. “Kharchenko lived a quiet life in Donetsk and didn’t suspect that this could happen to him,” BBC Russia quoted an unnamed former fellow soldier as saying. “Perhaps they’re guarding him in this cruel way, but it’s a very strange way of securing a person.”<br/>