OREANDA-NEWS. Dutch newspaper NRC Next reports that six Ukrainian prosecutors involved in the investigation into the crash of the Malaysian Boeing MH17 have been taken off the job. According to the publication, the reason for this was the reform of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office, carried out in the country in the framework of the fight against corruption.

Ukrainian prosecutors completed the case in the summer of 2019. Five prosecutors were fired, two of them were members of a joint investigative team (which also includes representatives of Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands). Only Oleg Peresada is now participating in the investigation, but he is “no longer allowed to call himself a prosecutor,” as the publication claims. NRC Next reports that the Netherlands Chief Prosecutor Fred Westerbeke insisted that Peresada’s “knowledge and experience” be taken into account in the investigation of the MH17 crash, and Kiev promised to fulfill this request.

Since the end of 2019, 710 of 1339 prosecutors have been dismissed during the reform in Ukraine. Prosecutors are sure that the ongoing reorganization is unfair, it aims to fire as many people as possible.