Four men go on trial in the Netherlands on Monday, in the first criminal case over the murder of 298 people on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down over Ukraine in 2014.
The Boeing 777 went down amid a conflict in eastern Ukraine, after Russian-backed rebels seized the area.
Investigators say they have proof the Buk missile system that shot it down came from a military base in Russia.
The four suspects are unlikely to take part in the trial.
Three of the men are Russian and one is from eastern Ukraine. Neither country extradites its citizens but one of the Russians will have a defence team in the courtroom and the court says it is also prepared to accept testimony from them by video link.
Russia has repeatedly denied involvement in the deadly attack on 17 July 2014. Citizens of 10 different countries died on flight MH17.
Little is known about who will testify before the court’s three judges.
Unconfirmed Dutch reports say there are 13 witnesses in the case whose identities will remain secret, but the judges may decide that anyone who has already given evidence to prosecutors may not need to appear in person.
The court will be able to hear anonymous testimony if necessary, in a trial that could take more than three years.
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Two of the suspects are allegedly linked to Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, which has been linked to cyber-plots as well as the deadly nerve agent attack on Salisbury in England.
The four men are:
Igor Girkin, also known as Strelkov. He is a former colonel in Russia’s FSB intelligence service, given the title of minister of defence in the rebel-held eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, prosecutors say
Sergei Dubinsky, known as Khmury. He was employed by Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, according to investigators. They say he was a deputy of Mr. Girkin and in regular contact with Russia
Oleg Pulatov, known as Giurza. He is allegedly a former soldier with GRU special forces who became deputy head of the intelligence service in Donetsk
Leonid Kharchenko, known as Krot. He is a Ukrainian national with no military background who led a combat unit as a commander in Eastern Ukraine, say prosecutors.
They are accused of murdering 298 people and causing the MH17 crash. Prosecutors say the men are jointly accountable for the attack because they “co-operated to obtain and deploy” the Buk missile launcher in order to shoot down an aircraft.
Court summonses were sent to all four although it is not certain that the men received them, so one early task for the court will be to decide whether sufficient effort was made to reach them.
Significantly, one of the suspects, Oleg Pulatov, will be represented by a defence team, so the court may decide he is not considered in absentia. Igor Girkin has told the BBC he does not recognise the court’s authority.
