- Title: UKRAINE-CRISIS/MH17 FILE File footage of MH17 disaster as first anniversary nears
- Date: 10th July 2015
- Summary: TRUMPET BEING PLAYED AS BODIES ARE CARRIED OFF AIRCRAFT VARIOUS OF FLAGS FLYING AT HALF MAST
- Embargoed: 25th July 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Netherlands
- Country: Netherlands
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA6AZJUTURRVGUGOO0MS4K8XNYQ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: It's almost one year since Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down in eastern Ukraine on July 17 2014 with 298 passengers on board, two-thirds of them Dutch. It crashed in Ukrainian territory held by Russian-backed separatists.
As that anniversary approaches the Malaysian government has asked the United Nations Security Council to set up an international tribunal to prosecute those suspected of downing a passenger airliner last year in eastern Ukraine, but Russia dismissed the move on Thursday (July 9).
Malaysia, a member of the 15-member council, distributed a draft resolution late on Wednesday (July 8), which it hoped could be adopted later this month, diplomats said. It is a joint proposal by Malaysia, Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium and Ukraine.
A report by a multinational investigation into the cause of the crash, led by the Netherlands, is due later this year. Malaysia, Australia, Belgium and Ukraine are also part of the joint inquiry.
On July 21, 2014, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution that demanded that those responsible "be held to account and that all states cooperate fully with efforts to establish accountability."
Forty three Malaysians, including 15 crew members, were killed in the crash.
The tragedy was the second major aviation disaster to hit the country and the national carrier just four months after a Beijing-bound MH370 disappeared off the radar with 239 passengers and crew on board.
Following the disaster the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak condemned the "inhumane" action of the shooting down of the plan during a special parliament session on July 23, 2014.
With 193 of the dead from the Netherlands, the Dutch have been taking a leading role in the international effort to investigate the cause of the crash.
Prosecutors are testing the theory that the plane was shot down by a surface-to-air BUK missile fired from an area held by pro-Russian forces. But they say they do not expect to issue indictments until after the Dutch Safety Board releases a report in October detailing how the plane was downed.
Russia for its part has put forward a scenario, denied by Kiev, that the airliner was downed by a rocket fired from a Ukrainian fighter jet.
With relations between Russia and the West at their lowest ebb since the Cold War, Moscow might have little interest in cooperating with any trial held in the West. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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