Malaysia moves ahead with proposed UN tribunal for MH17 culprits

Agence France-Presse

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Malaysia moves ahead with proposed UN tribunal for MH17 culprits

AFP

Malaysia says it plans to present a draft resolution soon on creating a UN tribunal to try those responsible for the downing of a Malaysia Airlines flight over Ukraine

NEW YORK, United States – Malaysia told the Security Council on Thursday that it plans to present a draft resolution soon on creating a UN tribunal to try those responsible for the downing of a Malaysia Airlines flight over Ukraine.

All 298 passengers and crew on board flight MH17 – the majority of them Dutch – died when the plane was shot down on July 17 last year.

Malaysian Ambassador Ramlan bin Ibrahim said the draft resolution and the draft statute of the proposed international criminal tribunal will be circulated to the 15 members next week, with a vote possibly this month.

A picture taken on July 17, 2014 shows wreckages of the malaysian airliner carrying 295 people from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur after it crashed, near the town of Shaktarsk, in rebel-held east Ukraine. Photo by Dominique Faget/AFP

Russia has balked at the idea with deputy foreign minister Gennadiy Gatilov saying that the proposal was “not timely and counterproductive.”

After the tragedy suspicions immediately turned to pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine who may have used a surface-to-air missile supplied by Russia to shoot down the plane.

(READ: Timeline: Last known moments of flight MH370)

Spurred by a global outcry, the Security Council last year adopted a resolution demanding that the perpetrators be brought to justice.

Malaysia is working with Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands and Ukraine – all member countries of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) – on setting up the international tribunal.

The Malaysian ambassador told the council that a UN court would “provide the highest degree of legitimacy for the trial and prosecution mechanism for MH17 to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice.”

Russia did not raise objections after Malaysia presented its proposal to the council meeting, according to diplomats.

“Our sense was that all council members including Russia were open to further consider the matter,” said Malaysian diplomat Johan Ariff Abdul Razak.

The resolution would be drafted under chapter 7 of the UN charter, which means that the tribunal’s efforts to reach prosecution could be enforced by sanctions. 

(READ: Downing of MH17 ‘may amount to a war crime’ – UN)

The Russian deputy foreign minister had said that the investigation of the shooting down of the airliner should be completed before any further steps are taken.

The Boeing 777 passenger jet was en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam when it was shot down during some of the worst fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists. – Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!