In the event of a reorganization, all Ukraine prosecutors who investigated the MH17 air disaster were relieved of their duties, writes NRC Monday. Two officers who participated on behalf of Ukraine in the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), the international joint venture investigating the disaster, were also dismissed.
The redundancies take place on the eve of the MH17 trial that will start next month at the highly secured court at Schiphol.
Five of the six officers who investigated the air disaster on behalf of Ukraine have been dismissed. One of them is still involved in the investigation, but is no longer allowed to call himself an officer. According to the National Public Prosecutor’s Office, this investigator, Oleh Peresada, remains involved in the investigation.
The redundancies are the result of a reorganization within the Ukrainian Public Prosecutor’s Office in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s fight against corruption. 710 of the 1,339 prosecutors in the public prosecutor general are according to the NRC removed from their duties.
According to the newspaper, discussions with Ukrainian officers show that the reorganization was aimed at getting as many prosecutors as possible away.
Their dismissal could have major consequences for the follow-up investigation. MH17 researcher Roman Hosjovsky estimates that the prosecutors’ successors will certainly need a year to read. “Nobody knows the file that we have built up here in five years,” says Hoshovsky.
New prosecutors can only be appointed on 8 March, because the JIT agreement between the Netherlands, Ukraine, Australia, Belgium and Malaysia will then be extended.
Dutch OM is concerned
The Dutch OM fears according to the NRC for the continuity of the investigation. However, according to the National Prosecutor’s Office, Kiev has promised that the knowledge and experience of prosecutor Peresada will be retained. The officers have already completed their files and therefore the consequences for the current criminal case will be better than expected.
The trial in the MH17 case begins on March 9. Three Russians and one Ukrainian are on trial. They are suspected of the murder of the 298 passengers of the aircraft. There were also 196 Dutch people among them.
On July 17, 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine. The international investigation team JIT has determined that the aircraft was knocked down by a stoop-missile from the Russian army.
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