Russian suspect in MH-17 airliner downing denies charges on last trial day

Presiding judge Hendrik Steenhuis (3L), and other trial judges and lawyers view the reconstructed wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, at the Gilze-Rijen military Airbase, southern Netherlands on May 26, 2021. A Russian suspect in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine appealed in a video statement to a Dutch court on Friday, June 10, 2022 to be declared innocent, as judges adjourned the long-running trial of three Russians and a Ukrainian separatist rebel and began months of deliberations to reach verdicts.

THE HAGUE: One of the four men on trial for murder over the shooting down of an airliner over Ukraine in 2014 told Dutch judges on the final day of his trial on Friday that he is not guilty as his lawyers said he should be acquitted.

Prosecutors say Oleg Pulatov, two other Russian nationals and a Ukrainian helped supply a missile system that Russian-backed separatists used to fire a missile at Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17. All 298 people on board were killed.