Four names of MH17 suspects to be revealed today: report
At a press conference in Nieuwegein on Wednesday, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) will reveal four names of persons who are suspected of downing flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Olena Zerkal said, NOS reports.
"The names will be announced. There will be charges", Zerkal said. The judiciary will examine whether the four can be prosecuted. If they can, they will be tried at the high security court at Schiphol, according to the broadcaster. Zerkal said that these four suspects are just the beginning. "The number of people involved is much larger."
The JIT told NOS that it will not respond to statements made by the Ukrainian politician. The press conference will start at 1:00 p.m. The relatives of the 298 people killed in the MH17 disaster will be informed about developments shortly before the press conference.
Aleksandr Borodai, who was the leader of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine at the time of the disaster, told RTL Nieuws that he is "absolutely not worried" about a possible lawsuit. "I don't feel responsible", he said to the broadcaster.
The JIT was established in 2014, a month after the Malaysia Airlines flight was downed, to investigate how the disaster happened and who was responsible. The investigation team consists of authorities in the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine - the countries most affected by the disaster.
So far investigation by the JIT and Dutch Safety Board revealed that MH17 was downed by a BUK missile system from the 53rd Anti-aircraft Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces, fired from a field in Ukraine that was under the control of pro-Russian separatists at the time.
