The MH17 criminal trial continues shortly. content.uplynk.com/player5/2GnnnR…
#MH17 Most recent decisions of court can be read here: uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/inziendocument…
#MH17 Judge: Echo is bad on livestream but seems Dutch law was modified on 1 January 2021 to make it impossible to question the DSB report so investigating judge can not question witnesses on it.
#MH17 Judge: Some interviews requested have conducted, some remain to be done. Satellite image request "ongoing."
#MH17 Judge: Prosecution has been unable to match Pulatov's voice because of time difference. Therefore court asks if Pulatov can identify 2014 telephone conversations he acknowledges are his.
#MH17 Judge: Decision on an inspection of reconstruction of plane will be taken in April. Livestream should be available.
#MH17 Counsel for the relatives: Have received legal advice from an expert on Ukrainian law over claims for civil damages but don't have final opinion. Outlining time-line of parallel civil case which will be under Ukrainian civil law.
#MH17 Defence: Talking about Almaz Antey experts & that they haven't been able to inspect certain items from the wreckage. In advance they should be sent photos of all fragments including parts not sent to Netherlands.
#MH17 Defence: It turns out, a lot of the wreckage has not been added to the reconstruction. Defence should have access to all the fragments. Prosecution says this is "not necessary." Defence not happy about this.
#MH17 Defence: There is no official report about which bits of wreckage were used in reconstruction and which weren't and why. The defence has an interest in seeing all the wreckage especially to see if DSB made the correct decisions re what bits to use in the "reconstruction."
#MH17 Defence: Appears not all the fragments with impact damage have been included in reconstruction. For instance these fragments (shows images including two below)
#MH17 Defence: Prosecution has asked why defence can't just use photos of wreckage. Of course, prosecution witnesses had direct access to the physical wreckage & equality of arms demands defence witnesses have same access.
#MH17 Defence: Re linguistic analysis requested on conversations. Prosecution recently sent letter saying Pulatov not involved in one of the calls of the 17th previously ascribed to him. How is this possible after 6 years?
#MH17 Judge: Asks Defence to find out from defendant which conversations he does recognise as including him.
#MH17 Defence: 20-30% of wreckage was available for inspection and only a small % of this was used in reconstruction.
#MH17 Defence: Wants to know everything about Strela 10. Not all available information seems to have been provided to court.
#MH17 Defence: Defence wants information on any systems that might have picked up other radar systems (eg activity of aircraft) This request was previously rejected by court but that may have been misunderstanding about what was being requested.
#MH17 Defence: Requests all data from systems that might have picked up other radar.
#MH17 Defence: Questioning whether witness M58 is reliable.
#MH17 Prosecution: Will respond later at 4pm. Will take less than an hour. Judge agrees to that. Case suspended until then.
#MH17 - did anyone catch which call this was? Obviously important.
Actually the Ruptly live stream at is far better than the official stream as no echo.
The call which is no longer ascribed to Pulatov is the one at 19:25 and 39 seconds.
#MH17 Prosecution: Trying to stop any of the defence requests. The conversation now no longer ascribed to Pulatov was after the downing. Wasn't considered a key conversation.
#MH17 Prosecution: Prosecution has been trying to get Pulatov to say which conversations he was involved in. Court should give him deadline.
#MH17 Prosecution: No reason to ask Almaz Antey any more questions as they have already replied. Almaz Antey says 9M38 is the most likely missile used.
#MH17 Prosecution: Photos of all wreckage recovered by DSB have been given to defence. Unclear why unrecovered wreckage photos should be provided to defence.
#MH17 Prosecution: Areas reconstructed cover most of the area damaged. Other areas can't add anything to dominant areas of damage.
#MH17 Prosecution: Reconstruction only includes "most relevant" parts. 18 containers with fragments stored.
#MH17 Prosecution: Stela-10 request already rejected by court. BUK has larger range than Strela-10 so question if Strela-10 in service or not irrelevant
#MH17 Prosecution: Re radar data - this has already been requested of Ukraine and they said they provided all their radar data. Russia has not provided similar data requested by Prosecution.
#MH17 Prosecution: Defence fails to explain why necessary to question witnesses re M58's credibility.
Short recess of 15 minutes while defence consider response to prosecution response.
#MH17 Defence: Re photos. Told photos not taken of material not recovered to Netherlands. Want to see those photos.
#MH17 Defence: Re Almaz Anty - they have said they haven't seen all wreckage & as AA expert is coming to testify he could come a day early to view wreckage.
#MH17 Defence: 1000s of photos and innumerable reports & many fragments damaged not part of reconstruction. Very difficult for defence to specify why exactly want to see each particular piece so want to see it all.
#MH17 Defence: It wasn't stated in investigation overview that there are 18 containers of wreckage which have not been added to reconstruction.
#MH17 Defence: Regarding Strela-10. Prosecution has produced report on Strela-10. But was it operational or not - to date not received answer.
#MH17 Defence: Data on radar data must be available. Would also be interested in Russian data but can't request it as it would be in support of an alternative scenario. Court has said requests in support of alternative scenarios not allowed. So asking ?s regarding main scenario.
#HRI comment - Defence questions on alternative #MH17 scenarios are not allowed.
Now the prosecution is trying to rule out defence questions on the prosecution's favoured scenario.
We'll see if court agrees with them when they reconvene on February 8th.

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More from @HRIMark

8 Dec 20
Full text of the interlocutory judgement of the #MH17 court regarding on applications made by the defence, counsel for MH17 relatives and the Public Prosecution Service just released:
uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/inziendocument…
The judge argues the right of the defendant to examine or have examined witnesses against him is balanced against his right to be judged within a reasonable time.
So Pulatov can not examine all the witnesses against him because of time constraints.
Article 6 of the ECHR below:
My interpretation of the ECHR would be that examining the witnesses against him is a "minimum right" of a defendant and the "reasonable time" has to allow this. The judge can rule the evidence is insufficient & acquit but he shouldn't curtail the defendant's minimum rights.
Read 33 tweets
30 Nov 20
Strange mask protocol at @OPCW #CSP25 - apparently only compulsory when using the microphone. Here is DG Arias addressing conference with unmasked person just behind.
The session seems to have reopened with a new mask protocol in place (Before & after). Another suggestion pertaining to safety:
1) Let the #CSP25 hear from ex-DG Bustani about the threats to his family from the USA.
2) Let's hear those who went to Douma about what they found.
Can the @OPCW please do something about the echo on the sound stream? - thanks. #CSP25
Read 8 tweets
30 Nov 20
Today sees the start of The Twenty-Fifth Session of the Conference of States Parties #CSP25
We will once again see science & the reports of the OPCW's own scientists ( wikileaks.org/opcw-douma/doc…) being ridden over roughshod in the interests of the US/UK led war party.
Consensus will be abandoned as the US, UK & allies, (a minority of the world's population but a majority of the states in the OPCW) use the #CSP25 for geo-political goals, based on the suppression of the scientific evidence of their own complicity in Syrian chemical attacks.
The focus of the US/UK group will be condemnation of Syria & Russia & pretence the OPCW Technical Secretariat remains a credible body after the Douma cover-up. Russia will argue for a return to consensus & the banning of white phosphorus as a weapon.
Read 8 tweets
25 Nov 20
The #MH17 trial will be continuing shortly, with Judge Hendrik Steenhuis replying to the defence's requests for further investigation & prosecution's attempts to prevent further investigation.
This is a crucial stage of the pre-trial process as the defence have demonstrated that the JIT "investigation" was focused on finding evidence to back up the "Russia did it" narrative rather than properly investigating the case.
With the parts of the case file presented to them not even containing enough information, according to the counsel for the relatives, to support their civil case, it is clear a comprehensive reinvestigation is necessary.
Read 42 tweets
13 Nov 20
Today in #MH17 court the prosecution will attack Pulatov's witness statement & continue to argue against the defence requests for further investigation. We may find out more about the basis on which the Dutch government opened up their case against Russia.
Prosecutor: Your court will not investigate the possibility of self-defence. Doesn't apply to #MH17 as you can see from international community's response. Sending troops into another country is a criminal act.
Prosecutor: Any claim for self-defence by the BUK crew can also not apply to Pulatov.
Read 121 tweets
12 Nov 20
In the last 3 #MH17 court sessions, in laying out requests for further investigation, the defence showed the prosecution case is, at best, a shameful shambles.
Today the prosecution will attempt to stymie any real investigation into how & why the plane was downed.
#MH17 Judge: Counsel for the relatives has made a number of requests including witness statements of M58 & X48 (at firing location) & intercepts allegedly including the accused.
#MH17 Prosecutor: Defence has made over 200 requests for further investigation, with 80 left over from before.
Read 68 tweets

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