Interstate court may be set up to investigate MH17 crash
- 17.08.2015, 14:33
- 3,322
Malaysia will consider the option of establishing an interstate court to bring to justice those responsible for shooting down a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet over Donbas in July, 2014.
After the UN Security Council failed to support the idea of creating an MH17 international criminal tribunal, “we need to consider a plan B,” said the minister on August 16, according to Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai, TASS information agency reports.
“Either we form an interstate court, or forward the matter to the International criminal court (ICC)," the official said.
UNIAN memo. Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was downed in Donetsk region on July 17, 2014. There is mounting evidence that the plane was shot down by a powerful Buk-M anti-aircraft missile system. All 298 people on board were killed. Most of the passengers, 194, were Dutch citizens, while 43 people, including all of the aircraft's crew, were citizens of Malaysia.
Malaysia has submitted to the UN Security Council a draft resolution on setting up of an international tribunal to investigate the crash. The initiative to create a tribunal was supported by Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands and Ukraine.
At a meeting of the UN Security Council on July 29, Russia vetoed the draft resolution on setting up an international criminal tribunal to investigate into the MH17 crash on July 17, 2014, which killed all 298 people onboard.
After the vote, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Bert Koenders said the Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia, Belgium and Ukraine will continue the search for mechanisms to bring to justice those who shot down the aircraft.
On August 11, the Dutch Security Council reported that the JIT in cooperation with the Dutch Safety Board was investigating several fragments, possibly originating from a Buk surface-air-missile system. These parts have been secured during a previous recovery-mission in Eastern-Ukraine and are in possession of the criminal investigation team.
