HAARLEM (NETHERLANDS): A former deputy public prosecutor who led the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 case has reminded that the three men who were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders of 298 people on board will be detained and put behind the bars if they leave Russia.

Digna van Boetzelaer, who is now the Head Prosecutor of North-Holland, said that in fact, the Netherlands government never asked for the extradition of the trio because Russia does not extradite its own people.

"But, whenever they (accused) travel out of Russia, they can be apprehended and brought to the Netherlands and will be in jail. But also, when there is another regime, we can have talks with that regime on how we are going to finalise this. We will see where this brings us but it will not go away," said the prosecutor.

She told Malaysian press during the MH17 visitors programme which was held at the District Public Prosecutor's Office 'Noord-Holland', Haarlem, in the Netherlands.

On November 17, 2022, the Hague District Court sentenced three former Russian intelligence agents Igor Girkin and Sergei Dubinskiy and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko, a separatist leader to life imprisonment after finding them guilty on charges of causing the crash of MH17 and the murders of all 298 people on board.

However, the court acquitted another Russian, Oleg Pulatov, of the same charges.

Recalling the challenges during the investigation, Boetzelaer said the complexity of the investigation was due to the ongoing war in Ukraine and the abundance of misinformation on the internet at the time.

"The incident happened in a place where we couldn't go. It wasn't freely accessible. There was a war going on, so that made it more complex to carry out the investigation," she said.

On evidence, Boetzelaer said that eyewitnesses confirmed that the BUK TELAR that was used to shoot down the flight was driving through the streets, and two other witnesses even said that they saw the launch of the missile.

On July 17, 2014, MH17 was downed by a BUK missile while flying over the conflict-hit eastern Ukraine, and everybody on board was killed.

The victims came from 17 countries and included 198 Dutch nationals, 43 Malaysians, 38 Australians, and 10 from the United Kingdom.

-- BERNAMA