1434th meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council - Ninth anniversary of the downing of MH17

1434th meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council

Ninth anniversary of the downing of MH17

Joint statement with the Netherlands, delivered by H.E Ambassador Christophe Kamp, The Netherlands Permanent Representative to the OSCE

20 July 2023

I have the honour to inform you that Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Romania and the United Kingdom align themselves with this statement.

Monday marked the ninth anniversary of the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17. This tragedy led to the death of 298 innocent people from 17 different countries. Our hearts remain with those who perished on board, their families and loved ones.

Russia’s wholly illegal war of aggression against Ukraine has undoubtedly brought back painful memories for many people around the world who suffered tragedy as a consequence of the senseless downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 by a missile fired from a Russian Buk-TELAR surface-to-air missile platform.

We reiterate that we remain steadfast in our commitment to pursue truth, justice and accountability for the downing of Flight MH17. Today I would like to inform you of developments in three different proceedings.

Firstly, on 17 November 2022, the District Court of The Hague, sitting in the MH17 criminal case, sentenced accused Leonid Kharchenko, Sergei Dubinskiy and Igor Girkin to life imprisonment for the downing of Flight MH17 and the murder of all 298 persons on board. The irrevocable verdict marks an important milestone towards finding the truth and establishing justice for the victims of Flight MH17 and their next of kin, and holding those responsible for the downing of Flight MH17 to account.

Secondly, on 25 January 2023, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg became the first international court to confirm Russia’s involvement in the downing of Flight MH17. In its decision in the case of Ukraine and the Netherlands v. Russia the Court declared the applications partly admissible. The decision is final and will be followed by a judgment on the merits at a later date.

Thirdly, after Russia decided in October 2020 to withdraw from trilateral negotiations with Australia and the Netherlands about the downing of Flight MH17, we urged Russia -up to the highest level- to come back to the negotiation table. Because this did not happen, Australia and the Netherlands saw no other option than to bring the case to the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) under the dispute settlement mechanism of the organization. We are grateful that the ICAO Council last March confirmed that it had jurisdiction to consider the Flight MH17 case.

The goal of all proceedings is the same: establishing the truth, ensuring accountability and achieving justice for all 298 victims and their next of kin.

Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Romania and the United Kingdom and my own country the Netherlands once again call on Russia to accept its responsibility and cooperate fully with efforts to establish accountability.