Truth, accountability and justice

Relatives of those killed in the MH17 air disaster had previously demanded that Moscow take responsibility for shooting down the Malaysia Airlines passenger aircraft as part of any peace deal in Ukraine. In 2022, a court in The Hague found that the plane had been struck by a Russian-made Buk missile, which had been delivered to the territory of the self-proclaimed but internationally unrecognised Donetsk People’s Republic from Russia’s Kursk region shortly before the tragedy.

Sentencing Russia-affiliated combatants Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinsky and Leonid Kharchenko in absentia to life imprisonment for their roles in the downing of the flight, the court awarded over €16 million in compensation to the victims’ families. Russia has refused to hand over the three men and has denied any involvement in the disaster.

An official document outlining the factual and legal reasons that led to the Council’s conclusions will be published in the coming weeks. In the meantime, Novaya Europe asked Piet Ploeg, the chairman of the MH17 Disaster Fund set up by the relatives of the victims, to comment on the news.

Ploeg, who lost his nephew, brother and sister-in-law in the MH17 disaster, said the fund saw the decision as a key step towards international recognition of Russia’s culpability. Now, he told Novaya Europe, Russia may face even greater international isolation. We reproduce his comments below in full.

“The decision of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Council is very important to us as relatives of the victims. In 2018, the Netherlands and Australia formally held Russia responsible for its role in the downing of flight MH17. Diplomatic talks with Russia came to nothing because Russia unilaterally ended the talks. The ICAO procedure was the next step, but here too, Russia unilaterally withdrew from the talks. Russia was given the opportunity to defend itself against the charges, but failed to do so. The ICAO Council rightly continued and reached a verdict on 12 May.

Now there is a ruling by the ICAO, as part of the United Nations, as the guardian of international aviation safety. This is an important step towards an assessment by the international community of Russia’s criminal action against innocent civilians and the disrespectful, denialist and mendacious attitude of the Russian government in the MH17 case.

It is of the utmost importance that countries that make civil aviation unsafe through violence do not get away with it. In 2022, the Dutch court ruled that Russia did indeed play a role in the shooting down of flight MH17 and sentenced three suspects to life imprisonment. The ICAO Council’s ruling will be followed by talks on restoring justice. Especially now that Russia has rejected the ICAO Council’s ruling, I do not believe that the talks on justice will be successful, if Russia participates in the talks at all. These talks will include reparations, as the Netherlands has incurred very high costs in the MH17 case, almost €200 million to date.

It is highly doubtful whether Russia will ever come to the table; so far, Russia has been very consistent in its denial and obstructionist attitude. Even an international court of justice does not really have any means of enforcement. Perhaps diplomatic pressure and/or seizure of Russian assets will yield some results. But let me be clear: this is not about money; it is about truth, accountability and justice. And about the safety of civil aviation in the future. If Russia continues to obstruct the process, it may lose its voting rights at the ICAO. That would be a major loss of face. Perhaps further isolation of Russia in the international community will make the Russians think twice.

In addition to the proceedings at the ICAO, proceedings are also pending before the European Court of Human Rights, and we expect a ruling from the Court on Russia’s responsibility shortly. I am confident that the Court’s ruling will be in line with the rulings of the ICAO and the Dutch court. Russia will undoubtedly reject this, but the fact remains that a Dutch court, a European Court and the ICAO have all issued unambiguous rulings indicating that the Russian Federation stands alone.”