Schiphol: Since his father and stepmother died in the MH17 Malaysia Airlines flight, Ria Van der Steen had dealt with feelings of hate, revenge, anger and fear.
All black dress in the courtroom at Schiphol Airport near Amsterdam, Van der Steen spoke on Monday about a nightmare who woke him up and goodbye to the person he loved.
Finally, the relatives of 298 passengers and crew were killed on July 17, 2014, when a missile Buk blew Boeing 777 to Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur from the sky above East Ukraine who was torn, while in court.
Under the Dutch Law, relatives were allowed to make a statement of the impact of the victim to court, without questioning.
About 90 people plan to do it for the next three weeks, some talk through a video link directly from other countries.
“I think it might be next to the verdict, it is one of the most important days for family members because they can talk to the court, but by talking to the court, they talk to the suspect and also to those responsible wherever they are hiding, “Peter Langstraat said, a lawyer representing the relatives of the victim.
“So this is a form of communication with people responsible for this disaster.” Van der Steen is the first to talk Monday, notify the court about the psychological consequences of the tragedy in his life.
“I have to often say goodbye to them,” he said.
“The question is: How many times have you been able to say goodbye? And when will you live forever?” Van der Steen said he began to have a nightmare immediately after learning about the death of his relatives, who had been on his way to a holiday to Borneo.
In his dream, he walked across the fields in Ukraine looking for his father to tell him that he had died.
“I see debris, body, personal effects,” he recalled, “I can’t stop crying until I wake up shouting.” After being first informed that it was impossible to identify the body of the people he loved, Van der Steen finally learned that his father had been identified thanks to a small bone of his hand.
“Thankfully, we received news as soon as it was a small piece of bone (my stepmother) Neeltje was found and that he too, was identified,” said Van der Steen, remembering how surprising it with two small bags.
Bone.
“I know it’s them, but emotionally I don’t want to accept it,” he told the court.
The experiment was opened in March 2020 and developed through a series of early hearings before the lawyers began discussing the benefits of the case in June.
Complex cases are expected to continue until next year.
After years of tiring international investigation, prosecutors demanded four suspects, Russia Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy and Oleg Pulaatov and Ukraine Leonid Kharchenko with various charges of murder because of allegations involved in the shooting.
“To the perpetrators, seven years ago, you broke my family in a worse way,” Vanessa Rizk said, testifying remotely from Australia.
Vanessa and her brother, James lost their parents in the accident.
“Seven years, I decided that you would never decide my spirit,” he said.
The prosecutor said the plane was destroyed in the air when hit by a missile system that was transported to Ukraine from the Russian military base.
Russia denies the involvement in Downing.
None of the suspects appeared in court and only one – Pulaatov – had a lawyer representing him at the trial.
They said he denied the accusation.
“They know that we know that they are lying,” said Van der Steen.
Last week, investigators appealed to Russia to advance with information about the deployment of the missile that was said to be downward sympathizers.