Index – Abroad – Lawyers representing victims of Malaysian passengers are intimidated

Lawyers representing relatives of victims of a Malaysian airliner shot dead in eastern Ukraine in 2014 have been intimidated, and thus have been given protection, Dutch broadcaster RTL reported Thursday.

According to the television, several members of the lawyers team in the case reported that they were followed from the International Court of Justice building in The Hague to their homes and saw the suspects checking their addresses.

All parties involved in the Malaysian passenger carrier trial are aware of the physical and digital threats

Anna Sophia Posthumous, a spokeswoman for the Dutch Counter Terrorism Organization (NCTV), said:

According to RTL, at the end of September, NCTV held a briefing for lawyers representing relatives of the victims, who were told that Russia may have been behind the alleged intimidation attempt, and therefore protection measures were provided to them.

On 17 July 2014, a missile exploded ten kilometers over eastern Ukraine next to the cockpit of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. Thousands of metal particles burrowed through the Boeing plane, which crashed and crashed into the air. And 298 people on board died. International investigators and prosecutors say the missile may have been fired by pro-Russian militiamen occupying eastern Ukraine.