Posted on 02/23/2022 3:12:46 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
Amsterdam — The people who shot down Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014 had probably been hoping to hit a Ukrainian military jet, a Dutch court hear on Monday as the prosecution began reading the charges against those on trial.
Three Russians and a Ukrainian are accused of shooting down the Malaysia Airlines Boeing in July 2014 with a Russian-made Buk anti-aircraft missile, killing all 298 people on board.
The defendants are being tried in absentia, as Russia has refused to extradite them. The prosecution intends to conclude its presentation of evidence on Wednesday. A verdict is not expected until next year.
Prosecutor Thijs Berger said that the trial was about bringing the truth to light. “After all, a world that makes no effort to ascertain the truth and to punish the guilty when hundreds of innocent civilians are murdered is leaving its civilians as fair game,” the prosecutor said, according to a report on Dutch TV station NOS.
The prosecution presented evidence such as photos, intercepted telephone conversations, videos and witness statements. According to the prosecution, the evidence clearly shows the accused procured the Buk missile and fired it. However, they added, it was probably a mistake and was actually intended to hit a Ukrainian military jet.
In July 2014 the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian separatists were enganged in fierce fighting for control of eastern Ukraine. The Malaysia Airlines plane was on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. As most of the victims were Dutch, the trial is taking place in the Netherlands.
“...and if you look out of the left side of the plane, you’ll see Russians and Ukrainians shelling each other down there.”
Probably not a particularly bright move to fly directly over a war zone.
They could have spent 5 minutes of fuel to detour around a live combat zone that comprises less than 5% of Ukraine.
They didn’t even have to avoid the entire country.
The pilot and airline could have decided to go around it. Air traffic control could have directed them around it. But this truth is never talked about when the issue is raised.
They went perfectly over the middle of the combat area.
It was the third plane shot down that week, including a big Ukrainian Air Force transport plane — an Il-76 and an AN-30.
And 3 days earlier an AN-26 Ukrainian military transport plane was hit by a missile— at 21,000 feet
Sounds like someone is trying to provoke hard feeling and a war by dragging up 8 year old incidents.
Putin is so nice \s
“According to the prosecution, the evidence clearly shows the accused procured the Buk missile and fired it.”
Interesting choice of words. Makes it sound like they bought it from an arms dealer sealing out of the trunk of his car.
A BUK is a large medium range SAM on a tracked TEL, not a shoulder fired Strela.
“A BUK is a large medium range SAM on a tracked TEL, not a shoulder fired Strela.”
Often a part of an integrated, multi-layered Radae & Command/Control Network of the type only the Russians and major client states own — not a bunch of ethnic Russian militias in Eastern Ukraine.
Captain Obvious?
We knew this when it happened.
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