Moscow assures that the report includes “false evidence” and again points to Ukraine as guilty of the incident of the Malaysia Airlines flight, in which 298 people died
Eight years after the downing of flight MH17, a tragedy in which 298 people died, the case remains open. Yesterday, the Strasbourg Human Rights Court examined the cross-claims between Ukraine and Russia; and the one presented by the Netherlands, which seeks to clarify Moscow’s responsibility in the incident. During the hearing, Russia’s representative, Mikhail Vinogradov, asked the court to dismiss the Netherlands’ petition on the grounds that it includes “false evidence.” “The lawsuit is built on the misrepresentation of the facts, false evidence that does not correspond to reality and, in some passages, with false statements,” Vinogradov assured during the hearing.
The high court is currently studying whether or not to process the lawsuit in relation to commercial flight MH17, which covered the Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur route and which crashed when hit by a missile in 2014, when it was flying over Ukraine. A group of investigators concluded that the plane was shot down by an anti-aircraft missile system brought to eastern Ukraine from neighboring Russia. Moscow has always denied any responsibility in this event and has instead blamed Kiev.
Most of the victims were of Dutch nationality and the lack of answers only “increases the pain” of their relatives, lamented the representative of the Netherlands, Babette Koopman. Their lawsuit seeks to determine where the missile that shot down the aircraft was fired from and whether Moscow had any responsibility for the attack. Russia, on the other hand, rejected any accusation and asked that the case “stop politicizing”.
The judges must now deliberate on the admissibility of the demands, a process that can take several months and that takes place while the tension on the Ukrainian border increases.
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