#MH17 Judge: Defence requests for CVs in conjunction with Almaz Antey reports. Court sees no reason to do this. Investigating judge will be questioning AA witness so no need.
#MH17 Judge: Court sees no need to send database of information from DSB to be sent to Almaz Antey. Investigating judge may consider it necessary for AA to visit wreckage.
#MH17 Judge: Defence asked Mr Biedermann to come to wreckage. Defence only recently started to do its part in this. Defence has made no concrete requests re pieces of wreckage not included in reconstruction.
#MH17 Judge: Photos not provided to defence as they include pictures of victims. These photos not included in case file. Court instructs DSB to see what photos are available not yet provided to defence & if they can be provided.
#MH17 Judge: Re conversations including Pulatov. One of them no longer ascribed to him. Pulatov says he can't remember which of 14 conversations were his. Therefore, Court gives Pulatov 14 days to confirm 5 of conversations are genuine.
#MH17 Judge: Re filing of relative claims. Timetable can't be ascertained until after examination of wreckage by defence. Probable that defence won't just want to examine reconstruction but other parts (including left wing).
#MH17 Judge: Defence should make preparations for inspection of wreckage.
#MH17 Judge: Re Strela10 - defence wants report. Court recalls Dubinsky will be interviewed and he can be asked about Strela10. Request for report on Strela10 denied.
#MH17 Judge: Court doesn't see necessity further investigation of radar detection devices as Ukraine has repeatedly denied these requests.
#MH17 Judge: Court considers there is already plenty of information in the case file about reliability of key witness. Defence has not explained exactly why the witness might be unreliable so no calling of witnesses or further investigation of reliability of witness.
#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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.