“Acquit,” says the Russian MH17 suspect to Dutch judges

A Russian suspect accused of shooting down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 told Dutch judges on Friday that he had “nothing to do with the disaster” as the long-running trial ended.

Oleg Pulatov is one of four men on trial in absentia for shooting down the jet plane as it flew over war-torn eastern Ukraine in July 2014, killing all 298 passengers on board.

The trial is taking place in the Netherlands as the Boeing 777 flew from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur and most of the victims were Dutch.

“I am not guilty. I have nothing to do with the July 17, 2014 disaster,” Pulatov said in a video statement played in court.

“I fully participated in the (trial) process and there is irrefutable evidence that the prosecutor’s office did not explain all the circumstances of the crash,” Pulatov added in Russian.

“The main goal of the prosecution is to obtain a conviction by any means necessary,” said Pulatov, who wore a blue shirt and jacket and spoke directly to the camera.

“Acquit,” he then told judges at the hearing that opened in March 2020 at a high-security court near Schiphol Airport.

A verdict is expected on November 17 at the earliest, the judges said on Friday.

Presiding judge Hendrik Steenhuis said: “The case has made a massive impression on everyone here in the courtroom and on those outside.”

Russian nationals Igor Girkin, Sergei Dubinsky and Pulatov, and Ukrainian national Leonid Kharchenko have all refused to appear in court and are being tried in absentia.

Only Pulatov has legal representation.

The MH17 trial has taken on a new meaning since the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the end of February, in which a series of new war crimes were indicted.

On Thursday, Pulatov’s lawyer Sabine ten Doesschate said prosecutors could not prove that a Russian-made BUK missile was responsible for downing flight MH17.

Prosecutors are asking for life imprisonment for the four men.

Girkin, 51, also known by his alias “Strelkov,” is the best-known suspect — a former Russian spy and fan of historical re-enactments who helped spur the war in Ukraine.

Dubinsky, 59, who has also been linked to Russian intelligence, allegedly served as the head of the separatists’ military intelligence agency.

Pulatov, 55, was a former Russian special forces soldier and one of Dubinsky’s deputies.

Kharchenko, 50, is said to have led a separatist unit in eastern Ukraine.