Four people are accused in the case of the death of the Malaysian Boeing.
Oleg Platov – one of four defendants in the case of the death of a Malaysian Airlines passenger plane in the summer of 2014 in Ukraine – has expressed his readiness to appear in court. As reported by “Interfax “, this was stated at the hearing by one of his lawyers, Sabine ten Dusshate.
“Pulatov wants to appear before this court, but we are against it. His photo was widely circulated and it would be unsafe for him to appear here, also bearing in mind that there is an international request for his arrest,” Dusshate said.
She added that the defense needs more time to gather more information regarding Pulatov’s possible involvement in the tragedy. The lawyer also said that the defense would consider organizing her client’s appeal to the court.
“We need more information from our client to understand what further inquiries we can direct. We think we need to talk more with him. We need to know more about our client’s position. We will be able to send final requests for additional investigations in one month for the court hearing, which is scheduled for November 2. We believe that the result of the investigative steps that we will therefore request will shed more light on this subject, ”she explained.
As Dusshate noted, Pulatov told the lawyers that “he was not involved in ordering to transport and guard” the Buk anti-aircraft missile system, from which the plane was allegedly shot down, “nor to shoot at MH17.” …
“He was not involved in this and does not know personally how and why MH17 was shot down. He doesn’t know what really happened,” the lawyer said.
According to her, Pulatov saw the downed airliner and told the lawyers “how terrible it was for him personally.” He also admitted that he took part in hostilities in Ukraine.
The trial of the death of 298 people in the crash of flight MH17 began in the Netherlands on March 3. It takes place in the absence of all four accused: Russian citizens Oleg Pulatov, Igor Girkin (Strelkov), and Sergey Dubinsky, as well as Ukrainian citizen Leonid Kharchenko. Only Pulatov has protection.
The accused do not admit their guilt. At the same time, Girkin said that he felt a certain moral responsibility for the deaths of innocent passengers since he commanded the militia and was directly involved in the military conflict. The Dutch prosecutor’s office stated that it could attach Girkin’s statements to the case.
The Joint Investigation Team, which is investigating the plane crash, has issued international arrest warrants for the accused.
