OREANDA-NEWS. The defendants in the case of the downed Malaysian Boeing MH17 over Donbass in 2014 did not appear for trial in The Hague. Presiding Judge Hendrik Steenhuis decided that he “has the legal right to judge the four suspects in their absence” and in the absence of lawyers for three of them.
Earlier, Oleg Pulatov’s lawyer, Yelena Kutina, said that three Russians and one Ukrainian who are considered to be involved in the plane crash will not appear at the trial, they will be represented by lawyers. According to the judge, Pulatov received a subpoena and is aware of the charges against him. The summons to Sergey Dubinsky and Igor Girkin, as well as the Ukrainian citizen Leonid Kharchenko, were sent to their well-known addresses by regular and registered mail, as well as to the prosecutor’s office of Russia and Ukraine. In addition, the summonses were sent to them through other channels, including email, instant messengers, social networks, they were announced at a press conference on June 19, 2019. “On their pages on social networks, Girkin and Dubinsky responded to the allegations, so the court has no doubt that all suspects are fully aware of these hearings. In this situation, it can be concluded that the suspects deliberately waived their right to be present and defended in court,” Steenhuis said.