Ward Ferdinandusse will be the public prosecutor for the MH17 lawsuit

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Dutch Public Prosecution Service (Openbaar Ministerie) appointed Mr. Ward Ferdinandusse as the public prosecutor for the MH17 lawsuit.

This was made public by Dutch NRC newspaper crime reporter Marcel Haenen in a Tweet. Haenen is known for having good relations with Dutch Public Prosecution Service.

Remarkable as Ferdinandusse stated in 2016 that a lawsuit in the Netherlands will be difficult. According Ferdinandusse Dutch law needs to be adjusted or special treaties need to be signed. Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice did not agree with Ferdinandusse.

De officier van justitie die 10 jaar terug het strafrechtelijk onderzoek tegen Julio Poch begon, Ward Ferdinandusse, en de 'uitlevering' aan Argentinië regelde, krijgt nieuwe functie. Hij gaat vervolging doen van verdachten MH17, bevestigt OM.

— Marcel Haenen (@MarcelHaenen)

Ferdinandusse as a public prosecutor is specialized in international crime. He worked on the case of a Dutch-Argentinian pilot Julio Poch who was suspected of having flown aircraft which were used to throw out opponents of the Argentinian regime into the sea. In 2008 Ferdinandusse was preparing a lawsuit against Julio Poch. However the case was taken over by the Argentinian public prosecution service. Poch was arrested in Spain, and then transfered to a jail in Argentina. Poch was detained for 8 years before his trial started. In December 2017 all three judges decided he was innocent.

The only evidence presented was a talk lasting a few minutes during a dinner with Transavia crew in Bali. Here Poch told about how Argentina got rid of opponents of the regime. Two Transavia pilots who heard this went to the police.

Ferdinandusse had the logbooks of Poch confiscated. The logbooks show in detail when Poch flew, on what aircraft. Ferdinandusse refused to hand over copies of the logbook to the lawyer of Poch, Mr Knoops. Knoops in the end went to court to force Ferdinandusse to hand over the logbook. The judge agreed to logbooks had to be handed over.

Around 2008 till around  2014 Ferdinandusse was head of the Team Internationale Misdrijven (TIM). This is a small team of expert detectives part of the Landelijk Parket responsible for investigation of for example war crimes. Team Internationale Misdrijven is involved in the MH17 investigation to determine if the conflict in Eastern Ukraine is a domestic or international conflict.

Mr Ward Ferdinandusse was  appointed professor by special appointment in International Criminal Law at the Faculty of Law, via the Groningen University Fund, as of 1 January 2014.

 

 

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