At the MH17 trial in the court at Schiphol, the Dutch lawyers of Russian suspect Oleg Poelatov immediately voiced strong criticism of the Public Prosecution Service’s investigation. The lawyers claim that the investigation was one-sided.
The Public Prosecution Service has now conducted six years of investigation into the crash of flight MH17. Oleg Poelatov’s lawyers Sabine ten Doesschate and Boudewijn van Eijck lamented having too little preparation time. Earlier this month, the Russian’s lawyers already indicated that, among other things, the coronavirus crisis had disrupted their preparation. For example, they were unable to visit their client in Russia to discuss the case. The lawyers also stated they had "a gigantic knowledge gap" regarding the file.
On Monday morning, they immediately issued heavy criticism of the investigation: the amount of research conducted is no guarantee of success. For example, there was no investigation at the crash site. Therefore, it cannot be excluded that evidence has been lost or compromised.
Lawyer Van Eijck stated it seems as if ‘the Buk scenario had to be maintained’. The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) repeatedly presented the same picture, the defense claims. The lawyer refers to the possibility denied by the Public Prosecution Service that MH17 was shot down by a fighter jet. Van Eijck announced he wants to hear many more witnesses. The defense had previously expressed numerous questions about why Ukrainian airspace had not been closed for civilian air traffic on July 17, 2014.
None of the four accused suspects have appeared in court so far. Oleg Poelatov is the only one of the four suspects—three Russians and one Ukrainian—who is represented by lawyers.
In the crash of flight MH17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, all 298 passengers died. According to the Public Prosecution Service, the plane was shot down by a Buk missile fired from territory controlled by Russian-backed Ukrainian separatists. The launcher allegedly came from the 53rd Russian Air Defense Brigade, according to the investigator.
At the beginning of July, the court wants to decide on the requests from both sides. More will likely become clear then about how the case will proceed in the coming months. Court days have been reserved for the massive trial through March next year. The trial will probably take much longer.