MH17 trial moves to crucial merits phase, examining evidence

Nearly seven years after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine, the trial in a Dutch court of three Russians and a Ukrainian accused of involvement in the downing moved Monday to the crucial merits phase, when evidence will be discussed by lawyers and judges. Families of some of the victims were present in court to watch the latest hearing in the long-running case. “It’s a very difficult day for us. You know, it’s now the first day of the prosecution,” said Evert van Zijtveld, whose daughter Frederique and son Robert-Jan were among the 298 passengers and crew killed when the Boeing 777 was shot down on July 17, 2014. The trial that has progressed through a series of preliminary hearings since opening in March 2020 will in the coming days begin examining the huge case file pieced together after a years-long international investigation. “The file consists of about 65,000 pages and many hundreds of hours of visual and audio material. It’s such a large case that it’s simply not possible to speak about every detail," Presiding Judge Hendrik Steenhuis said at the start of Monday's hearing, before summarizing the case. “Up until today, no one has come forward and said that they are even partially responsible for what happened," Steenhuis said. The first discussions of evidence are scheduled for Tuesday. The four suspects were not in the courtroom near Schiphol Airport and are being tried in their absence. They face life sentences if convicted of murdering the 298 people who died when the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was blown out of the sky above conflict-torn eastern Ukraine.<br/>