Netherlands summons Russian envoy at MH17

Russia’s foreign ministry on Thursday called the ruling by a Dutch judge that sentenced two Russians and a Ukrainian to life in absentia over the 2014 crash “scandalous”.

“We are all listening to the court’s ruling. Russia yesterday dismissed it as a political process,” the Dutch foreign ministry said in a statement to AFP.

“By doing so, Russia discredits the Dutch constitutional state. It is absolutely unacceptable.

When the doomed Boeing 777 took off from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, the trial was held in the Netherlands, and 196 of the 298 people killed were Dutch.

The court on Thursday said the convicted Russians Igor Garkin and Sergei Dubinsky and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko were members of a Moscow-controlled separatist group in eastern Ukraine.

It ruled that three people were involved in obtaining and moving the Russian-made missile that shot down MH17.

Moscow said Dutch courts were under “unprecedented pressure” from Dutch politicians, prosecutors and the media.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said the trial could go down in history as “one of the most scandalous cases in the history of legal proceedings, because it is bizarre, inconsistent and contains many dubious allegations of the prosecution.” said to be sexual.

“The course and results of the lawsuits indicate that they were based on political orders to strengthen versions promoted by The Hague and its affiliates,” it added.

Moscow has denied any involvement in the crash. It has refused to extradite the suspect, saying it is illegal under Russian law.

dk/rox