THE HAGUE: The families of people killed when a missile shot down Malaysia Air­l­ines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 set out 298 white chairs outside the Russian Embassy on Sunday in a silent protest against Moscow’s lack of cooperation in the investigation into the downing of the passenger jet.

The chairs laid out in rows like seats in an airplane represented the victims who died when a Buk missile fired from territory held by pro-Russia separatist rebels shot down the Amsterdam-to-Kuala Lumpur flight on July 17, 2014, killing everybody on board.

The families stood in silence for two minutes after arranging the chairs and signs including one that read: Impunity = unacceptable! Someone knows what happened ... Justice for MH17.

The protest came on the eve of a Dutch trial for three Russians and a Ukrainian charged with murders for their alleged roles in the missile strike.

Russia denies involvement and has dismissed the international investigation that led to the four suspects being charged, saying it is prejudiced against Moscow.

Relatives accuse Russian authorities of seeking to hide the facts about exactly what happened.

Piet Ploeg, who lost his brother, Alex, his sister-in-law and his nephew, said families weren’t accusing Russia of downing the Boeing 777.

“But we are having a protest against the lack of cooperation of the Russian state in the investigation of the downing of MH17. And we want them to cooperate and stop obstructing the investigations.”

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2020