LIVE | ‘OM withheld statements from witnesses about suspects for downing MH17’ Inland

Our reporter Saskia Belleman is present at the trial. Follow the case live via her tweets at the bottom of this post.

Lawyer Sabine ten Doesschate expressed this accusation in the Schiphol court on Wednesday. Ten Doesschate and Boudewijn van Eijck assist suspect Oleg Poelatov. The information in question is a statement from anonymous witness S45, who was part of the 53rd Army Brigade.

He said he was near the crash site and the spot from which the Buk missile was said to have been fired in eastern Ukraine on the day MH17 was downed. But he stated that no missile was fired within 50 kilometers of where he was. He would certainly have heard that, according to S45. Later S45 put his statements into perspective. He would have been drunk.

The defense did not even know about the existence of this witness, says Ten Doesschate, and therefore did not have the opportunity to ask him questions. The Public Prosecution Service then decided that S45’s statement was “not relevant” enough to also give to the court and the defense. The examining magistrate gave permission for this, “to prevent serious nuisance for witness S45.”

Ten Doesschate says that this “is starting to look like backroom politics. Apparently quite a lot has happened between the Public Prosecution Service and the examining magistrate outside the view of the defense.” She asked the court to order the Public Prosecution Service to provide all information that S45 has provided to the court and the defence.

Also listen to the podcast The Case Dissected with Saskia Belleman about the intense moments in the MH17 process:

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