14:51 04.08.2016

Those guilty in MH-17 tragedy should be held accountable

2 min read
Those guilty in MH-17 tragedy should be held accountable

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Tun Razak have stressed the importance of bringing to justice those responsible for the crash of the Malaysian MH-17 aircraft in 2014.

"We've reaffirmed our common position on the need to complete the investigation into the MH-17 aircraft tragedy. It is necessary to do everything possible to bring perpetrators to justice," Poroshenko said after talks with the Malaysian premier.

Poroshenko said special attention during the talks was paid to the further deepening of cooperation within international organizations, particularly the UN Security Council, where Malaysia now chairs.

"I am pleased to note the Ukrainian position on the key issues of the global agenda coincides with that of our Malaysian partners," the president said.

The Malaysia prime minister, in turn, said the parties discussed the importance of investigating the MH-17 tragedy, and identifying those guilty.

"We are also committed to the idea of establish the truth and bringing the perpetrators to justice. We expect a criminal investigation into the case, which, we hope, will be completed by the end of this year," the Malaysian official stated.

Poroshenko is currently in Malaysia for an August 3-5 official visit.

As reported, the Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777, en route from Amsterdam in the Netherlands to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, was shot down over the armed conflict area in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 people onboard.

On October 13, 2015, the Dutch Safety Board's commission, which investigated the cause of the MH-17 crash, published a report saying that the passenger plane had been shot down by a surface-to-air missile fired from a Buk air defense missile system.

The Dutch Prosecutor's Office said in June 2016 that the investigative group, made of representatives of the Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, Belgium and Ukraine, working to identify those responsible for the MH-17 crash and hold them to account, would publish the initial results of its criminal inquiry this fall. It also said that legal assistance requests had been sent to the countries involved in the investigation and replies to them were expected to arrive within the next two months. In particular, Russia is expected to provide information about Buk systems.

Following the international investigative group's inquiry, further information will be published detailing the weapon used to shoot down the Malaysian Boeing, as well as the site from which the missile was fired.

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