July 24, 2015

Remembering MH17

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Ukrainians, a deeply religious nation, mourn the dead of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 – citizens of 11 countries. Local residents in the towns where the plane’s remnants, and passengers’ bodies, rained from the sky, have erected memorials, and they continue to pray for the repose of the 298 souls of the passengers and crew of the Boeing 777. Memorial services were held throughout Ukraine; in Kyiv, people laid flowers on the steps of the Dutch Embassy and President Petro Poroshenko explained in an address that “the Ukrainian people took this catastrophe as a personal tragedy.”

At the same time, previously unseen video footage was released by News Corp Australia of “separatists” sifting through the wreckage of MH17 soon after it was shot down by a Buk missile, realizing that this was a civilian aircraft, and then callously going through the belongings of the dead. Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said it was “sickening to watch.” The country’s Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, said the images show the downing was an atrocity – that the rebels were “deliberately shooting out of the sky what they knew was a large aircraft.” Mr. Abbott stated that he had no doubt the aircraft was shot down with a Russian-supplied surface-to-air missile because “rebels don’t get hold of this kind of weaponry by accident. I mean, this was obviously very sophisticated weaponry.”

Those were the scenes we saw on TV and the Internet as the world remembered the terrorist act that occurred on July 17, 2014.

At about the same time, it was reported that a Dutch-led international investigation is expected to release its official findings about the MH17 shootdown in early October, and that a secret draft investigative report released on June 2 to representatives involved in the probe supports Western intelligence in concluding that pro-Russian forces fired a Russian-supplied surface-to-air Buk missile at the jet. At the United Nations, Malaysia, supported by Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands and Ukraine, has requested that the Security Council set up an international tribunal to prosecute those responsible.

Meanwhile, Russia has the brazenness to question the impartiality of the Dutch-led investigation and it opposes the idea of an international tribunal, with President Vladimir Putin arguing that establishing the tribunal would be “premature” and “counterproductive.” Why? Because, as reported by numerous news media, the evidence clearly shows the culpability of the Putin regime in the downing of MH17.

Instead, Russia is trying to obfuscate. It now says that it wants the U.N. to supervise the international investigation into the aircraft’s downing. Its proposal to the Security Council suggests that the investigating countries “keep the council fully and regularly informed on the progress” of the investigation and that “all interested states” have “just and equal access” to the materials of the investigation. Malaysia, Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium and Ukraine countered in their joint statement that the criminal investigation must remain confidential so that any future prosecutions are not jeopardized.

Russia’s latest moves should fool no one. Just as Russia denied that its forces are waging war in Ukraine, it is now denying any role in the MH17 disaster. The international investigation must continue, the international tribunal must be established, and justice must be served. The 298 souls mercilessly killed over the beautiful fields of eastern Ukraine deserve no less.

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