Victims' families want judges to clarify Russian role in MH17 downing

FILE PHOTO: Flowers and mementos left by local residents at the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 are seen near the settlement of Rozspyne in the Donetsk region. REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev/Files

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Relatives of the 298 people who died when Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine in 2014 hope that judges issuing a verdict in a Dutch murder trial on Thursday will highlight what they see as Russia's overarching role in the incident.

Prosecutors have demanded life sentences for three Russians and one Ukrainian accused of suppling the missile system that Russian-backed separatists used to fire a rocket at the Malaysia Airlines passenger jet traveling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.