"The ring is shrinking": the former Deputy Minister of Justice explained the consequences for Russia for the downing of the Malaysian Boeing 10 years ago. Video

Over the course of the multi-year investigation into the downing of Malaysian Boeing flight MH17, an international team of investigators has reconstructed the circumstances that led to the destruction of the passenger plane. And the investigation proved that it was Russia that committed this crime and bears full responsibility for it. And today, no one in the world has any doubts about this. And the Russian Federation itself has already felt the consequences of its actions, and in the near future they will be even more tangible.

This was stated by former Deputy Minister of Justice Serhiy Petukhov in a new episode of the OBOZ.TALK program on July 17, the tenth anniversary of the MH17 tragedy.

The lawyer reminded that the District Court of The Hague convicted the perpetrators of this crime in November 2022. And despite the fact that Russia continues to deny its involvement and that the real masterminds have not yet been punished, this decision of the Hague Court is of great importance.

"This decision is reflected in the political statements of the Council of Europe, the European Union, the OSCE, and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. And what is important, it has become the basis for the consideration of two international cases against Russia as a state," the lawyer said.

He reminded that the case of the downing of MH17 is currently being considered by the European Court of Human Rights under a collective complaint filed by Ukraine and the Netherlands against Russia, and a separate case is being considered by the ICAO Council, the International Civil Aviation Organization.

"In both cases, Russia has nothing to say, and it has simply withdrawn from the Council of Europe," emphasized Petukhov.

And recently, Russia has stated that it refuses to cooperate with the ICAO Council in the consideration of the case of the downing of MH17. And this has already had serious consequences, because this organization regulates civilian air traffic.

"This has already resulted in Russia being red-flagged, and normal companies do not fly in Russia because flight safety is not ensured there. And we see how the ring around Russia is tightening, and they have nothing to say and nothing to criticize the facts that have been established by the Dutch justice, and I hope that they will be further established by the ICAO in Montreal, and in Strasbourg, in the European Court of Human Rights," said the former Deputy Minister of Justice.

He emphasized that while Russia initially tried to slow down the proceedings, now it has almost no leverage left, and it can do nothing because the case has already been heard in The Hague.

According to Petukhov, Russia cannot withdraw from ICAO, as this would mean that any civilized cooperation with it would cease and Russia would simply disappear from the map of modern air traffic. And, accordingly, this creates additional tension for the Kremlin and weakens its position.

"We have a chance to bring Russia as a state to justice, recover damages from it, and impose additional sanctions for non-compliance with potentially international court decisions in the MH17 case. Given that the states whose citizens died as a result of this Russian crime are citizens of the Netherlands, Belgium, the United States, Australia and Malaysia, this case has a global aspect," emphasized Serhiy Petukhov.

As reported by OBOZ.UA:

"On July 17, 2024, ten years have passed since the Russian occupiers shot down a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, which was flying MH17 from the Netherlands to Malaysia, with a Buk missile in the sky over Donetsk region. There were 298 people on board, including 15 crew members, and all of them died.

On January 31, 2024, the International Court of Justice in The Hague announced a historic verdict in Ukraine's lawsuit against Russia, which concerned Moscow's support for terrorists in Donbas and violations of minority rights in Crimea. The court recognized that Russia had violated some parts of the UN Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism by failing to properly investigate financial support for separatists in 2014, but did not order compensation, as Ukraine had demanded.

And President Volodymyr Zelensky said that on the day Russian killers shot down MH17 in the Ukrainian sky, the whole world saw who came to wage war against Ukraine and that Russian evil is a threat not only to Ukrainians.

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