Trial for shooting down of Flight MH17 to go ahead in Netherlands
SUSPECTS charged with involvement in the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over war-torn eastern Ukraine will be tried in the Netherlands after Russia blocked efforts to create an international tribunal.
All 298 people on board were killed when the plane was brought down on July 17 2014 on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
Separate inquiries by the Dutch Safety Board and a joint investigation team (JIT) run by Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine has determined that the Boeing 777 jet was hit by a Russian-made BUK missile. The JIT said in September last year that the missile was fired from territory controlled by Russian-backed separatists and transported from Russia into a rebel-held area.
It has yet to name or formally indict suspects in the incident, although Dutch prosecutors have already said that they are likely to file murder and possibly war crime charges.
Russia used its United Nations Security Council veto to block the creation of an international tribunal to try the case in 2015, arguing setting up such a court could “politicise” the issue.
Bert Koenders, the Dutch foreign minister, said yesterday that the countries running the JIT had agreed that suspects would be prosecuted in a Dutch court.
In a statement, Mr Koenders said the investigation relied on international cooperation because the crime scene remains “the scene of heavy fighting … which is still difficult to access”. He added that prosecutors had faced “a great deal of disinformation and attempts to discredit the investigation”.
Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, welcomed the move as “a critical step in holding to account those responsible for this tragedy”. He said: “The UK offers its full support and cooperation towards the prosecution process, and I urge all other states to do the same as laid out in UN Security Council Resolution 2166. It is nearly three years since this terrible event and I thank the Joint Investigation Team for their painstaking work to deliver justice for the 298 people from 17 different countries, including 10 British nationals, who lost their lives that day.”