MOSCOW — A trial of four men with ties to the Russian security services began on Monday for the shooting down of a passenger jet over eastern Ukraine in 2014.

The trial by the District Court of The Hague is an attempt at justice in what for years had seemed a crime without punishment. It has been hailed as a victory for a group of international investigators who meticulously pursued the case despite Russian stonewalling.

The four suspects, believed to be in Russia or separatist areas of Ukraine, will be tried in absentia and are unlikely ever to spend time in prison. Family members of the victims placed 298 empty chairs, one for each passenger and crew member, in front of the Russian Embassy in the Netherlands over the weekend to protest the defendants’ absence.

The trial is expected to become a slow drip of evidence that will embarrass the Russian government by debunking a variety of conspiracy theories promoted by state media, and it may implicate senior Kremlin officials already linked to the disaster by existing evidence.