The Dutch Foreign Ministry said the Russian ambassador had discredited “the Dutch rule of law”, after Russia denounced a “political” verdict.
The Netherlands summoned the Russian ambassador this Friday, November 18, after Moscow denounced a “political” verdict in the trial for the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014.
“By doing so, Russia discredits the Dutch rule of law. This is absolutely unacceptable“, said the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release to AFP, the day after the sentencing of two Russians and a Ukrainian to life imprisonment. “That is why the Russian Ambassador was summoned this afternoon (Friday) and asked for explanations“added the ministry.
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Conviction in absentia
Russians Igor Girkin and Sergei Dubinsky and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko were found guilty of murder and of having played a role in the downing of a plane. They were convicted in absentia by a Dutch court because they refused to attend the trial, which lasted two and a half years. The Russian Oleg Poulatov, the only one to have been represented by a lawyer, was acquitted.
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Russia immediately denounced a decision “Politics“. “The trial in the Netherlands is likely to become one of the most scandalous in the history of legal proceedings“Reacted the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Thursday in a press release.
All 298 passengers and crew were killed when the plane connecting Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was hit over pro-Russian separatist-held eastern Ukraine by a BUK missile identified as coming from the 53rd Kursk Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade in Russia, the court heard.
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Moscow has always denied any involvement in the tragedy and refused to extradite any suspects, saying it was illegal under Russian law.