Poroshenko signed a law allowing the Netherlands to begin the court in the case of MH17
KIEV, 21 Feb — RIA Novosti. The President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has signed the law on ratification of the agreement with the Netherlands on international legal cooperation, which will entitle the Dutch side to hold court in the case of the collapse of the Malaysian Boeing 777 flight MH17 in the Donbas region in 2014, said on Saturday the press service of the President.
The agreement in July 2017 was signed by the Minister of justice of Ukraine Pavlo Petrenko and the Minister of security and justice of the Netherlands Stef Blok. According to the Ministry of justice of Ukraine, “the document stipulates that the Netherlands has jurisdiction to prosecute persons for crimes” related to the plane crash MH17.
The document also establishes that the prosecution of suspects will occur in the Dutch court — likely in the Hague.
The agreement also allows for the holding of court session in a videoconference mode. Those who can’t be extradited to the Netherlands, will serve his prison sentence in Ukraine. The Parliament of Ukraine ratified it on 12 July, adopting the relevant law.
“President Petro Poroshenko signed a law “On ratification of agreement between Ukraine and the Kingdom of the Netherlands on international legal cooperation in respect of offences by knocking down airplane of flight MH17 Malaysian airlines on 17 July 2014 and the agreement between Ukraine and the Kingdom of the Netherlands on international judicial cooperation in crimes related to the knocking down of the flight MH17 Malaysian airlines on 17 July 2014,” — said in a statement on the presidential website.
According to the press service, ratification provides for cooperation between the competent authorities of the two States determines the order and features of implementation of separate procedural actions in the framework of the agreement with the objective of effective implementation of criminal prosecution and conviction of persons involved in the Downing of the plane, in the judicial system of the Netherlands.
In particular, features of transfer of Ukraine to the Netherlands of a criminal case, the execution request of the competent authority of the Netherlands on the involvement of the person as a defendant in court proceedings on the territory of the Kingdom via videoconference.