Judges hearing the case against four defendants in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on Wednesday (Nov 25) rejected a defence request for more time to investigate alternative scenarios into the crash in eastern Ukraine.
MH17 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down by a missile fired from territory held by pro-Russian rebels during fighting with Ukrainian government troops, international investigators say. All 298 people on board were killed, two-thirds of them Dutch nationals.
After years of collecting evidence, a Dutch-led international Joint Investigation team (JIT) last year said the missile launcher used to hit the civilian aeroplane came from a Russian army base just across the border.
The Dutch government holds Moscow responsible, and three Russians and a Ukrainian are on trial for murder. None of the suspects is in custody and only one is represented in court proceedings.
Russia has always denied involvement and has promoted a range of alternative theories, which the investigators rejected as unsupported by evidence.
Read more at ChannelNewsAsia.
{Matzav.com}
