The Public Prosecution Service (OM) announced on Tuesday that statements had been made by a witness who in 2014 was near the supposed firing location of the rifle missile that crashed the MH17 flight. The person was active as a Russian volunteer in a separatist unit in Eastern Ukraine.
Follow our live blog about the second session in the MH17 process here
The witness, referred to as M58, says that on the day flight MH17 was shot down (July 17, 2014), he was near a stoop when a rocket was launched.
M58 has stated that it was his task, together with others, to guard the area where the rifle was stationed and that other pro-Russian separatists were also present. The OM assumes that an agricultural field near Pervomaisk has been the launch site.
The witness says that attendees initially responded with joy, because a military transport aircraft was shot down. However, when the first people returned from the crash site, they said it was a civilian plane.
The M58 statement to the examining magistrate was recorded on video in October. Because of the nature of his statement, he is made unrecognizable and his name is protected. The Public Prosecution Service would like to hear the witness even more closely and can imagine that the defense would too.
Witness explains about bending over
M58 is not the only one on the side of the separatists who has made statements. Witness S21 also says that he served in a military unit led by suspect Leonid Karchenko.
This witness says that on the day MH17 was shot, he and a number of others were hired in the evening to transport a buk-TELAR from Snizhne in eastern Ukraine and eventually transfer it again.
The explanations may be important for the scenario that the Public Prosecution Service assumes: flight MH17 was crashed down in July 2014 above area in the hands of separatists.
The four suspects that are being prosecuted are responsible, according to the OM, for hauling in the rifle from Russia, guarding the guns and transport back to Russia.
On the second day of the session, the public prosecutor made an urgent appeal to Igor Girkin (49), his right-hand man Sergey Dubinskiy (57), his assistant Oleg Pulatov (53) and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko (48) to make a statement about what they are suspected of.
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