Almost six years after waking up to the news that their loved ones died in the Malaysian Airlines disaster, Bryan and Lisa Clancy are attending the trial of four men charged with bringing down the plane.
At a highly secured court near Schiphol airport where MH17 took off, four men will be tried for the murder of Michael and Carol Clancy and 296 other victims on the ill-fated flight.
But as the three judges preside over the trial, there will be an empty dock.
The four accused — three Russians and one Ukrainian — will be tried in absentia.
They are Russians Igor “Strelkov” Girkin, Oleg Pulatov and Sergic Dubinsky, as well as Ukranian Leonid Kharchenko.
Only one of the men will have legal representation in the court, although the Dutch are yet to confirm who.
The Clancys say they are disappointed the Australian Government hasn’t followed the Dutch lead and joined a lawsuit against Russia in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
Almost 400 individuals, including 17 Australian families, are part of those parallel proceedings.
“We have a Government that is not fully supporting the Dutch,” Mr Clancy said.
“Our Government hasn’t involved itself in supporting the European court case, it’s just in the criminal court they are supporting the Dutch.”
The criminal proceedings could take years to complete, with the prosecution warning it could take between two and six years if there are unforeseen challenges.
Read more here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-08/australians-go-to-the-netherlands-to-seek-justice-for-mh17/12021682
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