Prosecutors start closing arguments in Dutch murder trial over downed MH17 flight

Public prosecutors Ward Ferdinandusse and Thijs Berger stand prior to the indictment of the Public Prosecution Service in the extensive criminal trial about the downing of flight MH17 in Badhoevedorp, near Amsterdam, on December 20, 2021. - The Boeing 777 travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was blown out of the sky by a surface-to-air missile fired from rebel-held eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing nearly 300 people. - AFP

AMSTERDAM: Dutch prosecutors on Monday began their closing arguments in the trial of suspects in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine and said the victims "didn't stand a chance" once a rocket hit the plane

Three Russian and a Ukrainian - all of whom remain at large - could face sentences of up to life imprisonment if found guilty of helping supply the missile system used to fire the rocket at the passenger jet as it flew from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people onboard were killed.