Trial of four MH17 downing suspects starts in the Netherlands

Presiding judge Hendrik Steenhuis, right, other judges, and the Public Prosecutor, table far left, take their seats in court for the trial of four men charged with murder over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight 17, at Schiphol airport, near Amsterdam, Netherlands, March 9, 2020. /AP

Four men go on trial in the Netherlands on Monday, in the first criminal case over the murder of 298 people onboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down over Ukraine in 2014.

It's a day that has been a long time coming for family and friends of the 298 people killed on July 17, 2014, when the flight crashed in eastern Ukraine on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

Three of the suspects are Russian, and one is from eastern Ukraine. They have been charged with multiple counts of murder for their alleged involvement in the 2014 downing of the flight.

Family members of victims of the MH17 crash line up empty chairs for each seat on the plane during a protest outside the Russian Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands March 8, 2020. /Reuters

The defendants are at large and are not expected to show up for the hearings at a high-security courtroom near Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, where they will be prosecuted under Dutch law.

Arrest warrants were issued last year for the four men who were identified by a Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that spent several years collecting evidence.

(With input from agencies)