By Ilker Girit

ISTANBUL

The Netherlands has said suspects linked to the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014 will be tried in a Dutch court.

The Dutch government on Wednesday said a European Joint Investigation Team (JIT) decided suspects should be prosecuted in the Netherlands, "a process that will be rooted in ongoing international cooperation and support".

No suspects in the case have been named so far.

Attempts to form an international court to investigate the incident, which claimed the lives 298 people, were stymied by Russia in 2015.

The Kuala Lumpur-bound flight from Amsterdam was shot down in the troubled state of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014.

In an interim report released September last year, the JIT determined MH17 was brought down from pro-Russian separatist controlled territory in Ukraine. Most of the dead were Dutch nationals.

Interim JIT findings confirmed an earlier technical report by the Dutch Safety Board that the aircraft was undeniably hit by a surface-to-air missile.

The JIT's report also said the launch site was near Pervomaiskiy -- a city in Kharkiv, Ukraine which was under the control of pro-Russian rebels at the time.