KUALA LUMPUR – Ten years on, Malaysia remains steadfast in its pursuit of legal action against Russia for the downing of flight MH17 in 2014.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke said Malaysia had continued to cooperate with foreign countries on the criminal investigations related to the incident.
“In terms of international legal proceedings, Malaysia, along with several other countries whose nationals were aboard the plane during the crash, will continue to pursue this matter,” he said during a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur Command and Control Centre today.
In August 2014, police and judicial authorities from Malaysia, the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium and Ukraine joined forces to establish the MH17 Joint Investigation Team with the aim of collecting evidence to identify those responsible.
On July 17, 2014, MH17 was shot down by a BUK missile while flying over eastern Ukraine, a region embroiled in conflict, resulting in the deaths of all passengers and crew on board.
The victims hailed from 17 countries, and included 198 Dutch nationals, 43 Malaysians, 38 Australians and 10 from the United Kingdom.
Following the tragic incident, the Hague district court on November 17, 2022 convicted two Russians and one Ukrainian in absentia to life imprisonment.
They were found guilty of causing the downing of MH17 and of the murders of all 298 people on board.
The convicted individuals are Russians Igor Girkin and Sergei Dubinsky, and Ukrainian citizen Leonid Kharchenko.
However, the court acquitted another Russian, Oleg Pulatov, of the same charges.
The court also ordered the three men to pay more than €16 million (RM75 million) in compensation to the victims’ relatives. – July 15, 2024