An appeals court judge in the Netherlands has been given a formal written reprimand by the supreme court and moved to a new job in the justice system after it was revealed that she tried to spread conspiracy theories among judges hearing the MH17 murder trial last year.
In a case legal experts say is without precedent, the judge circulated to judges and prosecutors in the trial a book written by her brother which claims the airliner was shot down by the Ukrainian authorities in July 2014 and not by Russian-backed separatists using a Russian-made Buk missile.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down nine years ago next Monday over eastern Ukraine with the loss of all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board, including 80 children and youngsters.
Quoting the book, the judge wrote to her colleagues describing the findings of the multinational investigation overseen by the Dutch Safety Board as “a deliberate and transparent cover-up” and said much of the data it uncovered was “manipulated and lies”.
She went on to allege on behalf of her brother that the court case in which they – the judges, prosecutors and court officials – were participating was the result of a web of “corruption” following on from that initial deliberate misrepresentation of the cause of the catastrophe.
According to Dutch media, she also brought the book to the attention of the attorney general, who is part of the public prosecution service, and referred to the “big show trial” in which the service was involved.
It was the public prosecution department that brought her lobbying to the attention of her employer, the court of appeal, which instigated proceedings.
The judge making the allegations was never herself involved in the MH17 murder trial, in which four men were accused of mass murder and three, two Russians and a Ukrainian, were sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment last November.
As well as contacting the judges and other court staff, she also handed out copies of her brother’s book, which he wrote under a pseudonym.
In its ruling in her case, the supreme court said it was satisfied that the judge wanted to influence both her colleagues and the course of the MH17 trial, the largest and most complex in the legal history of the Netherlands.
It said that in doing so she had “undermined confidence in the authority and impartiality of the judiciary”.
The court indicated that it did not sack the judge because it was satisfied that she realised she had “gone too far”.
Along with the written reprimand, she was transferred from the criminal judiciary unit in The Hague to another unspecified department.
