Huge show trial to bring justice to MH17 Australian victims
Key Kremlin figures are set to be named and shamed as four men go on trial over the shooting down of MH17 in one one of the most technically advanced court hearings ever.
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They are unlikely to be ever brought to justice but the alleged life and crimes of three Russians and a Ukrainian in murdering 298 people, including 38 Australians, will be revealed in one of the most advanced court hearings in international judicial history.
Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy, Oleg Pulatov, and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko stand accused of murder and playing pivotal roles in the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine in July 17, 2014.
But while the four men are not expected to appear in court on Monday, nor ever be put behind bars, Russia and the Kremlin can expect to be on trial for having led the cross-border invasion of Ukraine that led to the commercial plane’s shooting down, deploying their missile system and then for years attempting to cover up and stymie the investigation into the tragedy.
No expense has been spared to show the world who did what and why, with the trial to be one of the most technologically advanced and accessible in international judicial history.
No trial has ever been played out quite like this one.
The four men were instrumental in delivering the Buk missile system — taken from Russia’s 53rd Anti-aircraft Brigade — and behind the shooting down of the passenger jet, after mistaking the aircraft as Ukraine military.
Despite the evidence against them, their nations have refused to extradite them.
Figures in the Kremlin, with direct links to the four, are expected to be named including Russia’s defence minister Sergey Shoygu, as well as chiefs of the intelligence unit GRU.
The hearing, set down to run for 25 weeks, will feature five cameras around the courtroom, live-streaming every moment in both Dutch and English.
A movie-set sized production team will direct the live broadcasts from each camera, with salient clips to be edited on request to pass to media.
Such has been the media interest, 500 international media crews have registered to attend, prompting a media centre to be created.
Three other court rooms have also been set aside for the public to view proceedings on multiple big screens showing the different camera angles simultaneously “from the moment the first individuals enter the courtroom through the moment everybody has left after the hearing has ended”, a court advisory has detailed.
Another room for relatives and friends of the killed has also been set aside.
The case has also had to be moved from The Hague to a larger court facility at Schiphol Judicial Complex, on the outskirts of Amsterdam, ironically next door to the airport from where the flight departed.
When MH17 was shot down, militia groups backed by the Russian military, were attempting to form a breakaway region (similar to the way Russian-backed forces annexed Crimea months earlier).
The ongoing Ukraine conflict has so far cost 13,000 lives, including 4000 civilians.
The case is to be heard by three judges and will be outlaid by an unprecedented team of police and lawyers from The Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia, Belgium and Ukraine — the first four nations who lost citizens, and the latter, where they were killed.