European Parliament Supports Establishment of International Tribunal for MH17
The resolution of the European Parliament stated that they support the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for investigating the MH17 incident. In 2014, the Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 passenger plane was shot down over the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. The European Parliament also called on Russia to fully cooperate with the international community in order to carry out a full and impartial investigation and bring the perpetrators to justice, the document says.
Russia’s decision to block the establishment of an International Tribunal for investigation of this crime during voting in the UN Security Council was condemned. The main topic of the document was an agreement on the free trade area between Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and the European Union.
The resolution also condemned Russia’s continued aggression in Donbas, which led to the difficult humanitarian situation in the occupied territories where Ukrainian and international humanitarian organizations are not allowed. European Parliament expressed deep concern over the human rights violations in Russian-occupied Crimea, especially against Crimean Tatars.
Ukraine granted the right to investigate this tragedy to the Netherlands, as most of the victims were Dutch citizens. The Investigation Council on Security Matters made the results of its technical investigation public on October 13th, 2015. A technical investigation found that the Boeing 777 was shot down by a BUK surface-to-air missile system. The investigation did not try to find out who was responsible for the missile launch.
After presenting the results of the technical investigation, the Chairman of this Council stated that the missile that shot down the aircraft was launched from territory captured by pro-Russian separatists. The West and Ukraine stated that they have evidence that the BUK missile system in question was provided by Russia. It is not yet known whether professional Russian soldiers are involved in this crime or only separatists.
Civilian investigators accused 20 Russian servicemen of being involved in the downing of the Boeing 777. Local separatists and Russia deny their involvement. In late July 2015, Russia was the only country that voted in the UN Security Council against the draft resolution on the establishment of an International Tribunal on the case of MH17.
Currently, another criminal investigation of the circumstances of the tragedy under the leadership of the Netherlands Prosecutor’s Office is ongoing. Ukraine, Malaysia, Australia and Belgium are among the participants of this investigation.