Another MH17 update from our news desk:
Relatives Of Victims Say Four Suspects To Be Tried For Murder In Downing Of Flight MH17
Relatives of the victims of the the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine say Dutch investigators have told them four suspects will be charged with murder in the air disaster, which killed all 298 people on board.
Family members of the victims told reporters on June 19 that they were briefed by Dutch prosecutors from the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) just ahead of the expected public release of the names of the suspects, along with new information in the case.
"There is a court case on March 9, 2020, against four people for murder," Silene Fredriksz, whose son and daughter-in-law were killed in the disaster, said after being briefed.
Based on reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters
More on MH17 from our RFE/RL's Kyiv correspondent Christopher Miller:
Bellingcat Names New Suspects In Downing Of Flight MH17
KYIV -- The open-source investigative collective Bellingcat has named new suspects in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine which killed all 298 people aboard.
The group released the names in a report on June 19, just hours before Dutch prosecutors involved in the official Joint Investigation Team (JIT) were expected to identify at least four suspects and file the first criminal charges in the case.
The Bellingcat report identifies several individuals in three groups subordinate to the self-described Ministry of Defense of Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine's Donetsk region.
Those groups include the so-called “GRU DNR,” the Donetsk separatists’ military intelligence agency that was led by former Russian officer Sergei “ Khmuriy” Dubinsky at the time of the MH-17 tragedy. They also include the Vostok Battalion that was led by Ukrainian Oleksandr Khodakovskiy, and the Bezler Group that was led by Ukrainian Ihor Bezler.
Among the newly-identified individuals are Russia-backed separatist fighters who Bellingcat said were “directly responsible for misidentifying MH17 as a target and for the escort and deployment of the Buk missile launcher that downed MH17.”
Some of these Ukrainians, identified by their names and call signs, include: Leonid "Krot" Kharchenko, Ole "Gyurza" and "Khalif" Pulatov, Eduard "Ryazan" Hilazov, Oleh "Zmey" Sharpov, Serhiy "Botsman" Povalyaev, Valeriy "Naemnik" Stelmakh, Ihor "Minyor" Ukrainets, and Oleksandr "Sanych" Semyonov.
“All of these men, except for Hilazov (presumed dead since 27 July 2015) and Povalyaev (dead since 6 January 2016), are still alive and living in either Russia or occupied territory in Ukraine,” Bellingcat said in a statement accompanying its new report.
Earlier on June 19, the Dutch TV network NOS reported that the four suspects likely to be identified by the Joint Investigation Team are Muchkayev, Dubinsky, Oleh Pulatov, and Ivan Bezyzkov, a Ukrainian national.
Bellingcat, which began gathering and analyzing open-source data about the downing in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, previously identified several individuals it claims were involved in the downing. They include Dubinsky, who oversaw the transport of the Buk missile launcher that downed MH17, Bellingcat says.
Last year the group identified another individual allegedly involved as Oleg Ivannikov, a Russian GRU officer known by the call sign “Orion” who operated covertly in the neighboring separatist-controlled region of Luhansk.
Investigators at the JIT also were expected on June 19 to announce fresh developments in the criminal investigation into the downing of the passenger jet.
Read more here.