In search of justice

Any trial must have truth and justice as ends in mind

IT is close to five years since tragedy struck Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 on July 17, 2014 and we are still some distance from truth and justice. On Wednesday, the joint investigation team (JIT) announced murder charges on four suspects — three Russians and a Ukrainian. All three Russians — Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy and Oleg Pulatov were alleged to have been Russian soldiers at one point or another. The Ukrainian — Leonid Kharchenko — is said to have led a military combat unit in the city of Donetsk as a commander. Tenuous as this link may seem, JIT somehow connects the four accused all the way to Moscow. On what basis, JIT has not made it clear. Understandably, Russia denies this.

If you think JIT’s charge sheet reads like the Murder, She

Wrote television thriller series, you are not too far off the mark. In fact, JIT’s findings have an uncanny resemblance to online investigative website Bellingcat. It is not clear who owns the site, but it has been on the MH17 trail for sometime now. In its June 19 posting headlined “Identifying the Separatists Linked to the Downing of MH17”, Bellingcat implies that a Russianmade BUK missile launcher was used to shoot down MH17 over eastern Ukraine. Interestingly, the four accused named by JIT are also said to be somehow involved in downing the plane. Like a murder thriller, Bellingcat goes to some length piecing together what it calls “phone intercepts and digital breadcrumbs” to point its finger at the accused and some others. Unsurprisingly, the “phone intercepts” are provided by the Ukrainian government. Interested party? Fair question. Is politics trumping justice? JIT needs to address itself to these questions before it takes the legal process further.

That there is a political struggle going on in eastern Ukraine is common knowledge. MH17 and its 298 passengers were innocent victims. They happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. On that fateful summer day, there were Ukrainian armed forces. There were separatist forces too fighting a political cause. But there is a question people fail to ask: is MH17 being used to punish Russia for what is happening in the region? Recall the threat of sanctions by the United States when trouble brewed in Crimea in 2014. Law is law, politics is politics. The twain should not be made to meet.

Malaysia and Russia share a common concern. Both countries were kept out of the investigation from day one. This is, sadly, the tragedy of the investigation. If truth was the motive and justice the end result sought, both countries should have been included from the start. Perhaps the inclusion may disturb the narrative which was already planted from the start by Ukraine and the US as pointed out by some analysts: pro-Russia rebels in eastern Ukraine shot down MH17 with a missile supplied by Russia.

The next of kin of the 298 people on board MH17 may have thought they can look forward to some form of closure when the trial starts in March next year. But the closure may not come if politics stands in the way of truth and justice.

Malaysia and Russia share a common concern. Both countries were kept out of the investigation from day one.