MH17 tragedy: Putrajaya vows to seek justice for those affected
PUCHONG: The Malaysian government will not rest until those responsible for shooting down Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 are brought to justice.
In a message on the fifth anniversary of the tragedy, the Transport Ministry said the government is still committed in seeking a closure and justice for the families of those on board the plane that was shot down over Ukraine by suspected pro-Russia separatists.
“The Malaysian government will continue to pursue those responsible for this heinous crime, and mete out justice for the victims.
“Without a doubt, every family and the next of kin affected by this tragedy deserves justice.
“We sincerely hope that this will bring some measure of comfort and solace to the families and the next-of-kin of those who were lost their lives in this tragedy,” the ministry said.
The ministry added that Malaysia will continue to cooperate with the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT) and affected nations on the matter.
MH17 was shot down while flying from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to Kuala Lumpur five years ago today.
All 298 passengers and crew members were killed in the tragedy.
Last year, the JIT asserted that the BUK anti-aircraft missile used to shoot down MH17 was fired from the 53rd Russian military brigade based in Russia’s southwestern city of Kursk.
Last month, JIT announced yesterday that it is going to prosecute the suspects – Russians Igor Girrkin, Sergey Dubinskiy and Oleg Pulatov and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko – for shooting down flight MH17 in July 2014.
However, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad shot down any notion that Russia was behind the attack on MH17, claiming the investigation team has been biased against Russia from the start.
