‘BBC Russian Service’ reports suspect in the downing of Flight MH17’s arrest in unrecognized ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’
Ukrainian citizen Leonid Kharchenko — one of the four suspects accused in the trial for the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine in July 2014 — has been arrested in Donetsk, the BBC Russian Service reported.
According to the BBC’s sources, Kharchenko was arrested near his home in Donetsk (eastern Ukraine) on March 11, and is still being held in a pre-trial detention center under the control of the “justice ministry” of the unrecognized “Donetsk People’s Republic.”
“The charges are ridiculous — alleged participation in an illegal search in 2014 and illegal weapons possession. On the first point, the victims had no complaints against him. On the second, the state security ministry gave him this pistol in 2019 to ensure his own safety in connection with the MH17 case,” a source told the BBC Russian Service.
Kharchenko reportedly believes that he was arrested in order to isolate him, and to prevent the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) from abducting him, another source told the BBC.
Leonid Kharchenko was arrested just two days after the trial for the downing of Flight MH17 began in the Netherlands. All four of the accused in the case are being tried in absentia, and there are international warrants for their arrests. Kharchenko is also wanted on criminal charges in Ukraine; in 2015 the Ukrainian authorities accused him of establishing a terrorist group.
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The MH17 Case
The MH17 Trial in The Hague
In June 2019, charges were brought against four defendants involved in the downing of Flight MH17, including three Russian citizens — Igor Girkin (known as Strelkov), Sergey Dubinsky, and Oleg Pulatov — as well as one Ukrainian citizen, Leonid Kharchenko. The MH17 trial is ongoing in The Hague.
Flight MH17 Crash
Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014. All 298 people on board were killed (most of them were Dutch citizens). A Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT) later determined that a rocket fired from a Buk missile launcher belonging to Russia's 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade in Kursk downed the plane.