Permanent Representative of President of Ukraine in Crimea, Anton Korynevich at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) hearing slammed Russia for "disrespecting the international law."
"Not the first time that Ukraine experienced first-hand Russia's disrespect for int'l law. Now the world understands its disrespect & the hate of its cruelty...Putin lies & citizens of Ukraine die," he remarked at the ICJ.
Russian forces launched military operations in Ukraine on February 24, three days after Moscow recognized Ukraine's breakaway regions, Donetsk and Luhansk as independent republics followed by the announcement of a "special military operation" to "demilitarize" and "denazify" Ukraine.
The Hague District Court Judge, Hendrik Steenhuis, said that the court considers it appropriate to continue investigating the case of flight MH17's downing in 2014, despite the situation in Ukraine, reported Sputnik.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was downed over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014. Investigators claimed that a Soviet-era BUK missile fired from the territory of the breakaway Donbas republics hit the airliner, which crashed killing all 298 people on board, including 196 Dutch nationals. Ukraine accused Donbas republics of the incident, while the latter claimed they had no means of downing the plane on this altitude.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the allegations of Russia's ties to the crash were groundless, adding that the investigation was biased and one-sided.
On Monday, the District Court of the Hague will continue its consideration of the 2014 crash of flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine in a protected judicial complex in Schiphol, Steenhuis said, adding that the Court expresses its sympathy with the people of Ukraine.
In the block of hearings starting on March 7, the floor will be given to Dutch lawyers Sabine ten Doesschate and Boudewijn van Eijck, who is defending Russian citizen Oleg Pulatov.
The trial regarding the MH17 crash began on March 9, 2020, in the Netherlands. The defendants in the case are Russian citizens Igor Girkin, Sergei Dubinsky, Pulatov, and Ukrainian Igor Kharchenko. Pulatov is represented at the court by an international group, while other suspects are being tried in absentia. The trial on the merits started on June 8, 2021. In December 2021, the Dutch prosecutor's office demanded sentencing all four defendants to life imprisonment, reported Sputnik.
( With inputs from ANI )
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