SCHIPHOL /THE NETHERLANDS/, February 8. /TASS/. The Dutch court has suspended hearings of Malaysia’s Boeing MH17 crash in Ukraine in 2014, presiding judge Hendrik Steenhuis delivered the ruling Monday.

"The court suspends examination in court of defendant [Oleg] Pulatov until the 15th of April, 2021 at 10 o’clock. It also suspends investigation in the cases of accused [Igor] Girkin, [Sergei] Dybinsky, [Leonid] Kharchenko until the same date," he said.

The Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777, conducting flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed on July 17, 2014, in the Donetsk Region of Ukraine, killing 298 people from 10 states. A Joint Investigative Team (JIT) was created to investigate the crash, including representatives of Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine. In June 2019, experts claimed that they had identified a group of four people, suspected of involvement in the tragedy. It includes former Donetsk People’s Republic militia leader Igor Girkin, also known as Igor Strelkov; and his subordinates: Sergei Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and Leonid Kharchenko. According to the investigation, the former three are Russian nationals, and the latter is a Ukrainian national. The court hearings against the four men began on March 9, 2020. Pulatov is the only one represented by a group of lawyers, while the remaining three are tried in absentia. The four are accused of delivering a Buk air defense system from Russia to Ukraine.

Russian officials have repeatedly doubted the JIT findings, pointing out baselessness of the plaintiffs’ arguments and unwillingness to use conclusions of the Russian side during the investigation.