‘We lost joy in living’: grief of MH17 victims’ relatives laid bare in court

At trial of four men charged with murder over the Malaysia Airlines plane shot down in 2014, families gave testimony of lives cut short

Some were flying home. Others starting the holiday of a lifetime. But they never arrived at their destination. On 17 July 2014, a missile shot down Malaysia Airlines MH17 over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board, including 196 Dutch nationals. More than seven years later, a court in the Netherlands has heard some of their stories and how the lives of their grief-stricken families were changed for ever.

Over three weeks, more than 90 relatives of MH17 victims have given testimony of lives cut short. Schools not started, plans never to be realised, ordinary pleasures of family meals and hobbies denied.