Court case against MH17 offenders in the Netherlands

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Dutch RTL Nieuws reported at June 29 that a court case against MH17 offenders will be held  in the Netherlands. National and international sources reports to RTL. The perpetrators will be tried under Dutch law.

“That soon be decided where the lawsuit is held, does not mean that perpetrators appear shortly before the court,” says political reporter Fons Lambie. “The criminal investigation has not yet been completed. For completion, it must be clear how possible perpetrators will be prosecuted.”

It is the question whether the perpetrators will ever actually appear before the court. If that is not possible, perpetrators will be sentenced by default.

As a response to the reporting by RTL Nieuws, the families of the victims got an email later on the evening. The content of the email was:

“Vanavond heeft RTL – Nieuws bekend gemaakt dat binnenkort wordt besloten over de wijze waarop eventuele daders van MH17 vervolgd kunnen worden. Eerder is al aangegeven dat dit zou kunnen op basis van het nationale recht van een van de vijf JIT-landen of via een op te richten internationaal tribunaal. Het is aan de regeringen van de vijf JIT-landen om hier een knoop over door te hakken. Besluiten hierover moeten in alle landen afzonderlijk worden genomen en dat wordt naar verwachting binnenkort afgerond. Omdat de besluitvorming nog niet is afgerond kunnen wij u nog niet definitief hierover informeren. Zodra de keuze definitief is zullen wij u op deze nabestaande site u direct daarover informeren.”

Summary: Governments of the 5 JIT member states need to decide on where the suspects will be put on trial. Each member state has to decide separately and it is expected that this is soon finished. Because the decision-making process has not yet been completed, we can not finally inform you about this. Once the choice is complete, we will inform you immediately on this site.

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