EPP Group demands judgement of those responsible for downing of MH17

“We welcome the release of the report by the Dutch Safety Board on the downing of the MH17 in which 298 people tragically lost their lives. We commend this work as an example of impartial and honest investigation identifying all the facts and analysis on the downing of the Malaysia Airlines flight over the conflict-hit region in the East of Ukraine in July 2014. We take note, amongst others, of the conclusion drawn that the plane was downed by a missile installed on a BUK surface-to-air missile system”, said Elmar Brok MEP, Chairman of the European Parliament's (EP) Foreign Affairs Committee, and Andrej Plenković MEP, Chairman of the EP's Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee.

“We commend the cooperation between Ukraine, Malaysia, Australia, the United States, the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom in providing information to the international expert team led by the Dutch Safety Board. This demonstrates that constructive cooperation between the states involved in the investigation is possible and that all parties are committed to understanding what happened and to unveiling the truth. In this respect, we want to stress the importance of concluding, under international law, the investigation into the identification of those responsible for the tragedy.”

“We support the establishment of an international criminal tribunal and welcome this proposal by a number of UN member states. Regrettably, the possibility to establish such a tribunal was vetoed by the Russian Federation. We therefore call on the Russian Federation to fully cooperate with the international community in order to conduct a comprehensive and impartial criminal investigation, and bring those responsible to justice”, concluded Brok and Plenković.