Dutch Foreign Ministry Says MH17 Suspects To Be Prosecuted In Dutch Court
By RFE/RL
The Dutch Foreign Ministry says the suspects in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine will be prosecuted in a Dutch court.
The ministry’s announcement on July 5 did not name the suspects in the July 17, 2014, tragedy, which killed 298 people from 17 different countries.
But an international criminal investigation determined in 2016 that the MH17 passenger jet was shot down by a Buk antiaircraft missile fired from separatist-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine.
The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that conducted the international investigation also determined that the Buk missile system had been brought into Ukraine from Russia shortly before the MH17 was shot down and then smuggled back to Russia shortly afterward.
Russia has rejected the JIT's conclusions.
“We’re still seeing a great deal of disinformation and attempts to discredit the investigation” by the JIT, Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said in a July 5 statement.
“Nevertheless, major results have been achieved,” Koenders said, including “the report of the investigation by the Dutch Safety Board and the JIT’s presentation of findings in September 2016.”
“What’s more," he said, “the ongoing criminal investigation enjoys virtually unanimous support from the international community.”
Koenders said the decision to conduct the trial in a Dutch court was made by the countries jointly investigating the crash -- Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, Ukraine, and the Netherlands.
Koenders said those countries will continue to cooperate on the prosecution and that the trial will cover all of the victims.
"In this way, the JIT countries are jointly heeding the UN Security Council’s call to hold those responsible for this incident to account," Koenders said. "We have every confidence that we can continue to count on broad international support. And I will continue to do my utmost to ensure that this remains the case."
BREAKING:
The Dutch Foreign Ministry says suspects in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 will be prosecuted in a Dutch court.
Ukraine's Prime Minister To Travel To Britain To Attend Forum On Reforms
Ukraine says Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroysman is to travel to Britain on July 5 to meet with British leaders and take part in a conference devoted to the country's reform process.
Hroysman is to attend a conference on reforms in Ukraine on July 6, the Ukrainian government’s web portal said on July 4.
During his visit, which is ending on July 7, he is also due to meet with British Prime Minister Theresa May, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, and the president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Suma Chakrabarti.
Meanwhile, Hroysman was quoted as saying that the next installment of a $17.5 billion international bailout will be delayed until later this year because parliament won't pass all of the required reforms before its summer recess.
The delay will hold up the $1.9 billion fifth tranche of the country’s International Monetary Fund rescue program, he told Bloomberg in a July 3 interview in Kyiv.
The latest disbursement had been planned for June or July, Bloomberg reported. Parliament breaks for summer next week and reconvenes in September.
With reporting by Bloomberg
Ukrainian Cyberpolice Seize Server Of Small Company Linked To Global Attack
Ukraine's cybercrime police seized servers belonging to a small company at the center of a global outbreak of malicious software after "new activity" was detected there, officials said early on July 5.
The announcement raised the possibility that the hackers behind last week's wide-ranging cyberattack were still seeking to sow chaos.
Tax software firm M.E. Doc was raided to "immediately stop the uncontrolled proliferation" of malware, cyberpolice spokeswoman Yulia Kvitko said, suggesting that M.E. Doc had been preparing to send a new update like the one that infected computers worldwide last week.
"Our experts stopped [it] on time," she told AP.
It wasn't immediately clear how or why hackers might still have access to M.E. Doc's servers. The company has been the focus of intense attention from authorities since it was identified as the Patient Zero of the outbreak, which crippled computers at several multinational firms and knocked out cash machines, gas stations, and bank branches in Ukraine.
The company has denied allegations that its poor security helped seed the malware epidemic.
M.E.Doc is used by around 80 percent of companies in Ukraine to file taxes.
Based on reporting by AP and Reuters
This ends our live blogging for July 4. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.