Defence lawyers have played videos of former US secretary of state Colin Powell talking about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in a Dutch court in a bizarre bid to cast doubt on Ukraine's credibility in the MH17 probe.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Boudewijn van Eijck opened the pre-trial defence of Oleg Pulatov in the District Court of the Hague on Monday.
The Russian is accused of murder for co-ordinating the missile launcher used to shoot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, killing all 298 aboard, including 38 who called Australia home, in Ukraine on July 17, 2014.
Van Eijck claimed Ukraine had pushed the missile theory and country's security agency, the SBU, had undue influence over the international Joint Investigation Team (JIT).
"The investigation was under the control of the Ukraine prosecution service and the actual practical invesigation was conducted by the investigation division of the SBU," he told the court.
"The remit and methods of security services, such as the SBU, do not focus on primarily uncovering the truth but rather they focus on serving the national interest, and I'd like to take you back to a recent point in history."
Van Eijck then showed a series of TV interviews of the US secretary of state Colin Powell talking about WMDs in Iraq before and after the US invasion in 2003.
He also played recordings of fighter jet sounds, which he said supported witness claims that Ukrainian military planes had been flying in the area that MH17 crashed.
Defence lawyer Sabine ten Doesschate played at Russian TV interviews with people claiming to have seen jets near MH17.
She says those people had not been interviewed by the JIT.
"The internet is full of this: these videos, images or other footage, and many other theories that could have been dismissed or set aside as conspiracy theories," ten Doesschate said.
Earlier, Van Eijck said the JIT had not proven a clear chain of command linking his client Pulatov to the people who fired the missile and that a motive had not been established.
He claimed no witnesses had seen a missile hit MH17 at the height of 10,000 metres.
Van Eijck stressed that alternative crash scenarios, particularly an air-to-air attack by Ukrainian fighter jets, were not investigated thoroughly enough by the JIT.
"Objective fact-finding had really been put very much on the back-burner in this case," he said.
Van Eijck asked court to allow further investigation of every possible alternative scenario, alluding to the possibility of retrials and appeals.
"Our request should be warmly received, partly in order to make sure that this case never has to be reviewed or appealed," he said.
The hearing continues.
Australian Associated Press
