MH17 killers may be tried in their absence for downing airliner

Dutch prosecutors may go ahead with a trial of suspects in the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 atrocity in their absence.

Wreckage and debris at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 is pictured near the village of Hrabove (Grabovo), Donetsk region July 26, 2014. Picture: Reuters

Dutch prosecutors are prepared to go ahead with a trial of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 killers in their absence if those suspected of shooting down the jet in war-torn Ukraine cannot be ­arrested or extradited.

In Canberra yesterday to meet Australian authorities, chief prosecutor Fred Westerbeke said the joint investigation team would do everything in its power to ensure the suspects faced court.

“We want to have people on the stand, of course,” he told The ­Australian, “but if they are not there or if we cannot arrest or find them, there is a possibility to (prosecute) in absentia. As a fallback, we have that in place.”

The Boeing 777 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was hit by a Russian Buk missile over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing 298 passengers and crew, including 38 Australians. Charges are yet to be laid but it was announced last year that any prosecution would take place in The Netherlands, where authorities plan to use for the first time a law specifically aimed at acts that bring down planes. “We have a special article in our criminal code of law which says that if you down an aeroplane and people die by it, you can be prosecuted for that,” Mr Westerbeke said.

“So downing an aeroplane with casualties, the maximum penalty for that is life. That is probably the lead criminal offence we are going to follow on. But it can also be murder, manslaughter, depending on the evidence that we have.”

Investigators were making good progress but did not have a deadline to complete their work. Mr Westerbeke and Dutch ­National Police Chief Superintendent Wilbert Paulissen have been in Canberra this week for meetings with the Australian Federal Police and other agencies.

Asked to respond to comments by New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters that there was no evidence Russia was involved, Mr Westerbeke said: “I don’t think he knows how our file looks.”

Investigators have said the missile was taken into Ukraine from Russia and was fired from territory controlled by Russian-backed separatists. But Mr Westerbeke said 50 people were working on the investigation on a daily basis and the team was “not giving out any information about whoever could be a suspect”.

“The moment we are going to do that is in court,” he said. AFP Commander Peter Crozier told The Australian: “Those are matters for the court to determine. We can’t attribute that until we actually get to a court process. Then … those people involved will be ­directly implicated through the evidence we provide to the court.”

The joint investigation involves The Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine. Nine AFP officers remain deployed to The Hague and Ukraine as part of the team. Superintendent Paulissen said investigators had established how the plane was brought down and “now the question is who did it”. That involved looking at witness accounts, available data, social media and Ukraine wire taps. It was “still part of the investigation” whether it was targeted as a passenger plane.

Commander Crozier said ­material including human remains continued to be discovered, creating anxiety for families.