Dutch pm trial

Verdicts aren't expected until September next year at the earliest. Prosecutors had spent the previous two days explaining in meticulous detail the indictment and evidence backing it up to the panel of judges. Prosecutors plotted in detail the route they say the Buk missile took to and from the launch site in an agricultural field near the village of Pervomaiskyi, using witnesses, social media posts, photos and video and intercepted phone calls and mobile phone location data.

They also discussed the forensic evidence gathered from the wreckage and bodies of victims that were recovered from eastern Ukraine and returned to the Netherlands for examination. Earlier in the trial, judges visited a hangar on a Dutch military airbase where the wreckage is stored to view the mangled fragments. The prosecutors also cited tapped conversations between Dubinski and Kharchenko discussing shooting down what they initially thought was a Ukrainian war plane.

Prosecutors argue that Girkin and Dubinskiy were senior separatist rebels while Pulatov and Kharchenko were their direct subordinates. We'll notify you here with news about. Authorities in Moscow deny involvement.

Relying on satellite images, social media posts and intercepted phone calls, prosecutors say the four men worked together to get a Buk missile system from Russia into eastern Ukraine to reinforce separatists. Prosecutors argued that legally it made no difference that they intended to shoot a military plane. Their trial started 20 months ago. Only Pulatov has sent lawyers to represent him while the others have not cooperated with the court and are being tried in absentia.

The recent murder of the prominent Dutch crime journalist Peter R de Vries has been seen by police as an effort by organised criminals to show that nobody is out of their reach. Investigators believe film footage and photographs of a dying De Vries that emerged on social media shortly after he was attacked were taken and circulated by gang members as a warning to others.

De Vries had been acting as a spokesperson for the key prosecution witness, Nabil B, a former gang member turned informant, before he was killed. Between 20 and 30 people involved in the case, including judges and lawyers, have been given extra security.