MH17 investigation will be reopened if new information becomes available

Digna van Butzelar, the head of the MH17 crash investigation team, told Ukrinform that the investigation into the crash would be reopened if new information becomes available, regardless of how much time passes.

Source: European Pravda, with reference to Ukrinform

Details: In February 2023, the Joint Investigation Team investigating the downing of flight MH17 announced that the investigation would be suspended in light of the lack of evidence required to prosecute more suspects.

Van Butzelar emphasised that an exhaustive investigation had been carried out based on the available information.

"We have done everything we could. But if new information comes in, we will start again. Everyone is still available and ready to continue working if there is new information," she said.

Van Butzelar also stressed that there is no timeframe for the emergence of new facts.

"We cannot go any further now. But when we get new information, we will move forward again," she said.

Background:

• On 17 November 2022, the District Court of The Hague sentenced Igor Girkin, Sergei Dubinsky and Leonid Kharchenko to life imprisonment in absentia for their role in the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine’s Donbas and ordered their arrest. The court ruled that they must pay more than €16 million of compensation to the relatives of the victims.
• Russia has refused to extradite the three people involved in the downing of MH17, but Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof promised to fight to put Girkin, Dubinsky and Kharchenko behind bars on the tenth anniversary of the crash.

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