HOLLAND HORROR : EMPTY 298 CHAIRS

RELATIVES of plane crash victims protest Russian attitude with 298 empty chairs.

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 a 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 MH 17.

The protest came on the eve of a Dutch trial for three Russian 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..'  [AP]