To the President of the House of Representatives
of the States General
PO Box 20018
2500 EA THE HAGUE
Date November 3, 2022
Subject State of affairs MH17
I hereby inform your House, also on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs
and the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management,
about the state of affairs in the
various legal proceedings concerning the downing of flight MH17.
It concerns the criminal proceedings,
the state complaint against Russia at the European Court of Justice
Human Rights (ECtHR) and the proceedings against Russia
at the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
These procedures contribute
to achieve truth-finding, justice and accountability for
all 298 victims of the downing of flight MH17 and their relatives.
criminal trial
The court of The Hague has announced on 17 November 2022
next
to rule in the criminal case against the four suspects for their role in the
downing of flight MH17.
On that day, there will be a court end to a special criminal trial of unprecedented magnitude,
which began on 9 March 2020.
This criminal trial follows a unique criminal investigation of the
Joint Investigation Team (JIT),
which in addition to the Netherlands consists of Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine
and has been in the works for 8 years.
The process was
conducted in the Netherlands, according to Dutch criminal and procedural law,
but characterized by an international context and the support of international
partners.
The location was also special: at the Judicial Complex Schiphol,
special provisions were made to enable a safe criminal process and
where there is sufficient information for relatives, the press and other interested parties
facilities to be able to monitor the process remotely or not.
The way on which the police, the Public Prosecution Service, the JIT partners, the judiciary and
other stakeholders
have committed themselves to this special process in recent years
used, deserves a big compliment.
In the run-up to 2022 November 17, my thoughts are particularly with the
relatives of the victims of flight MH17.
Many of them will
attend the verdict, including a large number of foreign relatives.
In recent years they have attended the hearings in the criminal proceedings or through the
can follow the live stream.
Also, about a hundred relatives have very
impressively exercised the right to speak.
With these statements,
she gave a face to the many victims of MH17 and the impact this
events on the personal lives of countless people.
The
possibility to exercise the right to speak for next of kin constituted a
important consideration for conducting the MH17 process in the Netherlands.
The verdict on November 17, 2022 marks the end of the criminal trial in the first place
predisposition.
If one of the parties appeals, the process will
proceed to second instance.
In case there is indeed a process in higher
appeal follows,
the necessary preparations are made by the organizations involved
affected.
State complaint ECtHR
On 10 July 2020, the Netherlands filed an interstate petition ('state complaint')
filed with the ECtHR against Russia regarding its role in the downing of flight
MH17.
The hearing on admissibility took place on January 26, 2022 and after
a positive decision on eligibility,
which will start at the end of this year or else
is expected next year,
the ECtHR will continue with the substantive
therapy.
Russia is now no longer a member of the Russian Federation because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
the Council of Europe. (...lost in machine-translation...
)
This means that Russia is no longer a party to the
European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
However, that has no
consequences for the ongoing proceedings against Russia at the ECtHR.
The ECtHR
remains competent to judge acts of states during the period that they
were still parties to the ECHR, which is the case in this case.
Inmiddels is Rusland vanwege de Russische invasie in Oekraïne niet langer lid van
de Raad van Europa. Daarmee is de Rusland ook geen partij meer bij het
Europees Verdrag voor de Rechten van de Mens (EVRM). Dat heeft echter geen
gevolgen voor de al lopende procedures tegen Rusland bij het EHRM. Het EHRM
blijft bevoegd om te oordelen over handelingen van staten in de periode dat zij
nog partij waren bij het EVRM, wat in deze zaak het geval is
Procedure ICAO
On March 14, 2022, the Netherlands, together with Australia, will be in legal proceedings
initiated at the ICAO Council against Russia for its role in bringing down flight
MH17.
You have been informed about this by letter from the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and
Infrastructure and Water Management of 14 March 2022 (Parliamentary Papers 33997, no. 172)
informed.
More specifically, under Article 84 of the
Chicago Convention1
filed a complaint with the ICAO Council against Russia
with
a factual and legal substantiation of the violations by Russia of
this treaty in the context of the downing of flight MH17.
Netherlands and
Australia have asked the ICAO Council to determine that Russia
has violated obligations under the Chicago Convention by
using of a weapon against a civil aircraft in flight,
where 298 victims have died,
and to attach legal consequences thereto,
including compensation for the damage suffered.
The ICAO Council is empowered to
adjudicate on disputes under this Convention.
The procedure at the ICAO Council is
confidential and there are no
public hearings.
In the ongoing proceedings
The Netherlands and Australia are currently preparing a response to documents
which have been referred
to the Council by Russia as a result of the complaint lodged
laid down.
This procedure is expected to take several years
to take.
Separate procedures
The criminal proceedings against the four suspects and the proceedings against Russia at the
ECtHR and the ICAO Council form separate processes.
The pronunciation in
criminal trial on 17 November 2022 will see the individual criminal
liability of the four suspects,
while the proceedings at the ECtHR and
ICAO oversee the liability of the State of Russia for its role in
downing of flight MH17.
These separate routes all serve the same purpose:
truth-finding, justice and accountability for the 298 victims and their
relatives.
The Minister of Justice and Security,
D. Yeşilgöz-Zegeriu
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to the team, 
