Russian MH17 Suspect Wants to Appear in Dutch Court

The Russian MH17 suspect Oleg Pulatov has told his lawyers that he wants to make a statement, possibly in the courtroom at Schiphol. However, his two Dutch lawyers have advised against this because the Netherlands has issued an international arrest warrant against him.

The two Dutch lawyers, Sabine Ten Doesschate and Boudewijn van Eijck from the law firm Sjöcrona Van Stigt, spoke to their client for the first time last Wednesday ‘somewhere in Russia,’ they announced this morning at the resumption of the trial in the high-security court at Schiphol. The other Ukrainian and two Russian suspects again did not appear, are not represented, and are being tried in absentia.

The two lawyers say their client denies all charges, claims to know nothing, and say the conversation led them to new perspectives. They will submit new requests for additional investigations and to hear more and different witnesses.

The two public prosecutors, Thijs Berger and Ward Ferdinandusse, said in an initial reaction that the defense so far has brought nothing new: from the start of the trial in March, they have said that the suspect knows nothing and denies everything. They apparently fear a delay tactic.

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) states that Pulatov did play a role in guarding the launch site and says it has evidence in the form of intercepted phone calls. In these, it can be heard, among other things, that co-defendant Sergey Dubinskiy tells Pulatov that a Buk missile is on its way. The lawyers admitted that it is Pulatov who is speaking in the wiretapped phone conversations.

Moreover, the lawyers reiterated their wish to hear more and different witnesses but noted that they still need to formulate their requests for further investigation. The examining magistrate and the chairman of the multi-judge court have previously been cautious about this but seem willing to give the defense until early November at the latest to submit such requests for ‘additional investigation’ in writing.

It also plays a role that the lawyers believe the earlier incriminating investigation report from the Dutch Safety Board (Onderzoeksraad voor Veiligheid, OVV) should not be used as evidence in this trial, or that they should be able to summon all consulted experts and their evidence themselves in this case.

On June 19, 2019, five years after the downing of the Malaysian passenger plane MH17, the international Joint Investigation Team named four suspects allegedly involved in transporting the Buk missile system.

Three of them are Russians: Igor Girkin (Strelkov), a former colonel in the Russian intelligence service FSB and former so-called Minister of Defense of the so-called “People’s Republic of Donetsk”; Sergey Dubinskiy, a general of the intelligence service of the Russian armed forces and head of the so-called “main intelligence bureau of the People’s Republic of Donetsk”; Oleg Pulatov, a lieutenant colonel of the main intelligence service of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces. The fourth suspect is Leonid Kharchenko, a Ukrainian citizen,

Flight MH17 of Malaysia Airlines, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down in July 2014 over eastern Ukraine. There were 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board. All of them died. The JIT reported that the plane was shot down with a Buk missile system belonging to the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian armed forces, stationed in the Russian city of Kursk.