Dutch trial over downing of flight MH17 to start without suspects

FILE PHOTO: Toys are placed at a memorial to victims of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 plane crash near the village of Hrabove in Donetsk Region, Ukraine June 19, 2019. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko/File Photo

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Four fugitive suspects go on trial in the Netherlands on Monday charged with the murder of 298 passengers and crew aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, shot down with a Russian-made missile over eastern Ukraine in July 2014.

Wreckage of the Boeing 777 fell into fields surrounding the Ukrainian village of Hrabove in territory held by pro-Russian separatists fighting Ukrainian government forces.