On Thursday, July 17, 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed near the border of Russia and Ukraine. All occupants, including 196 Dutch nationals, perished. The grief of the bereaved families is indescribable and the lack of understanding and anger are great. The question of how this could have happened and who is responsible is central.
The Dutch Safety Board released its investigation report on Oct. 13, 2015. It shows that the crash was caused by the explosion of a missile warhead fired from a BUK missile system from the eastern part of Ukraine. The Safety Board further concluded that even before July 17, 2014, Ukraine had sufficient reason to close airspace over the eastern part of Ukraine as a precautionary measure. Although the report does not conclude on liability for this air disaster, it does provide answers to a number of questions from relatives that remained unanswered for a long time.
Under the applicable Montreal Convention, next of kin had two years to file a claim with Malaysia Airlines. The airline's liability per passenger is limited to an amount of about €130,000 if it proves that it is not to blame. If it cannot prove that, the airline's liability is unlimited. Beer advocaten takes the position that Malaysia Airlines cannot prove that it is not at fault. Therefore, the damages it had to pay are not limited to €130,000 per passenger. Beer advocaten has represented relatives of 100 victims of the disaster in settling their claims with Malaysia Airlines. Beer advocaten's aviation team has since been able to reach amicable settlements with Malaysia Airlines for the next of kin. This compensation process is therefore now complete.
Currently, Beer advocaten, with the help of its international network, is investigating the possibilities of holding parties other than Malaysia Airlines liable. In that context, a complaint was filed with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on behalf of the bereaved families in November 2018. The complaint has now been formally considered by the ECHR. This procedure is expected to take years. Also read here our press release on Russia's response on this complaint. Also, it cabinet decided to take Russia to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) over its role in the downing of flight MH17, through a so-called ‘states’ complaint.
Meanwhile, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) conducted investigations with the ultimate goal of bringing the perpetrators to justice. Based on the JIT report, the prosecution decided to to criminally prosecute four suspects for bringing down the plane. The criminal trial began on March 9, 2020 and is taking place at the District Court of The Hague (Schiphol location). To date, none of the defendants has appeared, but two lawyers have posed for one of the defendants, namely Pulatov. The judge ruled that the subpoena at all defendants was validly served, and that the case against defendant Pulatov be heard in an adversarial manner, and that the defendants who did not appear be granted default judgment. This means that the case against all four defendants can continue. The criminal trial is expected to take a long time. In the initial period, the focus will be on the assessment and implementation of investigation requests from the prosecution and the defense. On June 7, 2021, the substantive hearing of the criminal case began. In September 2021, the next of kin exercised their right to speak. Only at the end of 2021 did they get around to discussing the charged facts, in brief: the downing of flight MH17 and the murder of all 298 occupants and the crashing of the plane. Defense pleas are expected to follow in early 2022. More information on the court's schedule can be found here:
https://www.courtmh17.com/zittingsdagen-2022.html.
Beer advocaten is working with a specially assembled team on the MH17 case. In the process Arlette Schijns Acting as agent in the criminal proceedings on behalf of the next of kin and Christa Wijnakker in the trial at the ECHR (European Court of Human Rights).
If you would like more information about Beer advocaten's legal assistance in the MH17 case, please contact Arlette Schijns and Christa Wijnakker by phone
+31206732199 or by email luchtvaartteam1@beeradvocaten.nl.
For more current events, see news releases and aviation accidents.