MH17 relatives protest against Russia with 298 empty chairs on eve of trial

A picture of Bryce Fredriksz and his girlfriend Daisy is placed amidst 298 empty chairs, each chair for one of the 298 victims of the downed Malaysia Air flight MH17, in a park opposite the Russian embassy in The Hague, Netherlands, Sunday, March 8, 2020. A missile fired from territory controlled by pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine in 2014, tore the MH17 passenger jet apart killing all 298 people on board. United by grief across oceans and continents, families who lost loved hope that the trial which starts Monday March 9, 2020, will finally deliver them something that has remained elusive ever since: The truth. - AP

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP): The families of people killed when a missile shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 set out 298 white chairs outside the Russian Embassy on Sunday (March 8) in a silent protest against Moscow’s lack of cooperation in the investigation into the downing of the passenger jet.

The chairs - laid out in rows like seats in an airplane - represented the victims who died when a Buk missile fired from territory held by pro-Russia separatist rebels shot down the Amsterdam-to-Kuala Lumpur flight on July 17,2014, killing everybody on board.