Calls for justice as MH17 fete is marked
People wearing t-shirts bearing a drawing of a plane and slogans reading " MH 17, One year in the skies" hold flowers to the Dutch embassy in Kiev on July 17, 2015 in memory of the people who died in the crash of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17. PHOTO | SERGEI SUPINSKY |
What you need to know:
- Russia opposed to tribunal formation.
KIEV
President Petro Poroshenko called it a “moral duty” to punish those who killed 298 people by downing Flight MH17 over rebel-held eastern Ukraine one year ago.
“Our moral duty to honour the memory of the fallen ones is to ensure a fair punishment for those guilty in downing the aircraft. This crime represents a threat to the international community,” Mr Poroshenko said.
The Western-backed leader said the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was shot out of the sky by a surface-to-air missile that could only have been supplied to the insurgents under direct orders from Russia’s most senior leaders.
“It would not have happened without participation, without a direct order from the highest political and military leadership of the neighbouring state,” Mr Poroshenko added.
Russia denies supplying Ukraine’s militias with the type of Buk missile system allegedly used in the attack.
It claims to have played no role in the 15-month conflict and has blamed the downing at various stages on either a Ukrainian-made Buk system fired by government soldiers or an air-to-air missile launched by Kiev’s air force.
Mr Poroshenko reaffirmed his support for the establishment of a UN tribunal to prosecute those responsible for shooting down the plane which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the idea “counterproductive”.
POINT THE FINGER
In the Netherlands, relatives of flight MH17 victims joined emotional memorials as calls mounted for a UN-backed tribunal to prosecute those responsible for the crime.
The majority of the 298 passengers and crew were Dutch.
Kiev and the West point the finger at the separatists, saying they may have used a BUK missile supplied by Russia to down the plane.
“Justice must be delivered for the 298 innocent people who lost their lives,” British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said.
“That requires an international tribunal, backed by a resolution binding UN member states.”
Sydney’s Daily Telegraph newspaper released footage it said showed the rebels rummaging through the luggage of the dead in the plane’s smouldering wreckage.
It said the video was filmed by the rebels as they investigated what they believed to be a Ukrainian fighter jet they had shot down.
