Names of victims read aloud at murder trial over doomed flight MH17

Prosecutors Thijs Berger, Dedy Woei-a-Tsoi and Ward Ferdinandusse attend the criminal trial against four suspects in the July 2014 downing of flight MH17 in Badhoevedorp, Netherlands, March 9, 2020. REUTERS/Piroschka Van De Wouw

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Relatives sat listening with bowed heads and eyes closed as the names of all 298 victims of a missile strike on a Malaysian airliner were read out in a Dutch court on Monday as the murder trial of four fugitive defendants began.

Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 was hit by a surface-to-air missile on July 17, 2014 while flying over Ukrainian territory held by pro-Russian rebels fighting government forces. The airliner was on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.