For a brief moment in the presentation this week of the defence case against the Dutch government's indictment of Oleg Pulatov for murder in the shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, the Dutch lawyer Boudewijn Van Eijck
almost said there was no case to answer, and the indictment should be dismissed immediately for lack of evidence that is legal under Dutch law.
"The indictment is
superficial when it comes to actual facts which the defendant is accused of," Van Eijck (lead image, 2
nd from left) said (June 22, Min 21:19).
"It is not clear at this stage of this very question whether the actions would actually amount to a crime even if they could be proved."Van Eijck also warned the presiding judge Hendrik Steenhuis (right) that he is on trial himself - that he should not continue the trial on the prosecution's evidence,
ignoring the defence requests for fresh investigation and new witnesses, "in order to make sure that this case never has to be reviewed on appeal" (June 22, Min 42:35).
The next day, Sabine ten Doessschate (1
st left), the junior defence lawyer, summed up the defence case
by undercutting her leader.
She apologised to the Dutch press and to families of those killed on MH17 for presenting what she called "conspiracy theories". "All of the topics which we have talked about," ten Doesschate concluded on June 23, "for all of these we have asked ourselves, on the basis of what we have read, can we really say this is what really happened; and this is not the other thing which happened. And our answer is no. On the basis of the file we have at this moment it is impossible for us to say either one... this means we don't have all the answers. Investigation of topics like these can give hard facts which can give the answer to the question, how was MH17 brought down. If we were not to ask in detail for investigation, we would not be able to look at ourselves in the mirror. This is the least that can be expected of us" (June 23, Min 2:53:19).
Comment: Houthis have increased both their capabilities and offense. According to the Houthi spokesman: