International investigators claim there are compelling signs that Russian President Vladimir Putin chose to provide the missile that brought down flight MH17 in 2014.
Nearly 300 people were killed when a Russian-made missile struck a passenger plane over Ukraine.
According to the prosecution, there is proof that Mr. Putin decided to give Moscow-backed separatists heavy weapons.
There is no evidence that Mr. Putin gave the order to shoot the plane down.
The Joint Investigation Team’s findings, which were reached in response to a Dutch court decision from the previous year that found two Russians and a Ukrainian guilty of murder in absentia, were reached by investigators from five different nations.
Moscow, which has categorically denied any involvement in the plane’s downing, has branded those decisions “scandalous” and politically driven.
The international team in charge of finding the missile’s launchers announced on Wednesday that it had followed every lead and was unable to pursue any further legal action.
During a confrontation between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region of Ukraine in July 2014, a Russian-made surface-to-air missile struck a Boeing 777 while it was traveling from the Dutch capital to Kuala Lumpur.
196 of the 298 passengers and crew were Dutch, with the majority of the remaining passengers hailing from Malaysia, Australia, the UK, Belgium, and other nations.
The Donetsk People’s Republic, which administered the region in July 2014, was under Moscow’s “overall supervision,” according to a Dutch court decision from last year, which was cited by the Joint Investigation Team.
It described taped telephone conversations in which Russian officials claimed that the “President” alone is responsible for deciding whether to give military support.
There is verifiable evidence that the president was presented with the separatists’ request, and that request was granted, the statement continued.
It was clarified, however, that it was unknown if the request “explicitly names” the system that was used to shoot down MH17.
Investigators stated that while there are “strong indications,” “the high standard of complete and conclusive proof is not attained.”
Furthermore, as Head of State, the President is immune from prosecution.
The countries most severely impacted by the shooting down of MH17 are the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, and Ukraine, which make up the Joint Investigation Team (JIT).
The team acknowledged that it was currently not possible to establish the identity of the missile’s crew members and those in the chain of command.
Andriy Kostin, the general prosecutor of Ukraine, declared: “We will try to use all the current international legal procedures to bring [Mr Putin] to justice” in relation to MH17.
Piet Ploeg perished on MH17 together with his brother, brother’s wife, and nephew. He expressed his gratitude to the prosecutors for outlining their proof of Mr. Putin’s involvement.
He told the BBC, “We always suspected he did, but now we hear he did, all the stuff we received about Putin and his personal involvement in the downing of MH17 – facilitating with heavy weaponry, the fact he decided personally to pass over heavy arms.
Because he is the head of state, he cannot be tried for it, but everyone is aware of it.
Vladimir Putin’s involvement in the catastrophe was “clearly apparent,” according to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
According to him, this was consistent with a guy and a nation “just interested in attempting to slow things down, propagate injustice, and of course, a horrific form of aggression since the war in Ukraine.”
Although Mr. Rutte expressed his deep disappointment that there was insufficient evidence to support additional prosecutions, he maintained that this did not mean the criminal justice system was complete.
The European Court of Human Rights announced in January that it would hear a separate Dutch complaint against Russia for shooting down MH17.