Man arrested over attempted assassination of chief MH17 forensic scientist

Ukrainian authorities have arrested a man suspected of attempting to assassinate the chief forensic scientist involved in the MH17 investigation.

The director of Kiev's scientific research institute of forensic examination, who has been named by media as Oleksandr Ruvin, was shot on November 18 last year.

A man has been arrested over the murder attempt, following an investigation by military prosecutors, national police and the security service, Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine – Chief Military Prosecutor Anatolii Matios announced yesterday.

The suspect was allegedly directly involved in the crime.

Authorities believe the assassination attempt was aimed at stopping the chief forensic scientist from investigating the MH17 crash, Mr Matios said.

It was allegedly planned by an organised criminal gang that consisted of members from the Crimea and Donestk regions, he said.

Other raids have also been conducted as part of the investigation, with past searches uncovering small arms, two grenades and mother than 130 rounds of 9mm and 7.62mm ammunition.

The Boeing 777 Malaysian Airlines passenger plane crashed in Ukrainian territory in July 2014.

Ukrainian authorities are now working to identify and prosecute other members of the gang.