Russia was found responsible for downing of flight MH17 - decision by International Civil Aviation Organisation
The Council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has named Russia as responsible for the downing of passenger plane flight MH17 in July 2014.
This was reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, which, together with Australia, initiated a dispute against Russia at the ICAO, Censor.NET informs.
In March 2022, Australia and the Netherlands initiated ICAO proceedings against Russia over the 2014 crash of Malaysian flight MH17.
They claimed that Russia had violated Article 3 of the 1944 Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention), which obliges it to refrain from using weapons against civilian aircraft.
The decision was made on Monday, 12 May, by a vote of the ICAO Council members, and a "significant majority" of the Council members supported the position of the Netherlands and Australia, the statement said.
"I am pleased with the decision of the ICAO Council, first and foremost for the sake of the relatives of the victims of flight MH17. This decision cannot relieve them of their grief and suffering, but it is an important step towards establishing truth, justice and accountability. It is also a clear message to the international community that states cannot violate international law without consequences," said Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp.
In the coming weeks, the ICAO Council will consider how Russia will provide legal compensation. The Council should then oblige Russia to start negotiations with the Netherlands and Australia and facilitate this process.
As a reminder, the "Malaysia Airlines" Boeing-777 passenger flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed over the temporarily occupied part of Donetsk region on 17 July 2014. There were 298 people on board, all of whom died.
On 17 November 2022, a court in The Hague found Russian terrorist Igor Girkin (Strelkov), GRU General of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, head of the "DNR GRU" Sergey Dubinsky and Ukrainian citizen Leonid Kharchenko guilty of shooting down flight MH17 and killing 298 people, and sentenced them to life imprisonment. They also have to pay €16 million in compensation.
