DOWNING OF MH17
KUALA LUMPUR: Six years have passed and the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 next-of-kin (NOK) are still waiting for justice to be served.
Since the downing of the jetliner on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 people on board including 15 crew members, one question remains in their minds ― why did it happen?
The international media has reported that after nearly six years of research by international investigators, four defendants have gone on trial in March over the downing of flight MH17.
The four — Russians Sergey Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and Igor Girkin, as well as Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko — remain at large.
The trial was adjourned until Aug 31 to give the investigative judges time to hear more witnesses and to give the defence time to meet with Pulatov, the only one who has appointed a defence team, with the others are being tried in absentia.
So far, his lawyers say they have been unable to meet him in person and share details of the investigation because Covid-19 restrictions have made it impossible to travel to Russia, where he resides.
Commenting on this, aviation expert Prof Dr Mohd Harridon Mohamed Suffian told Bernama the ongoing trial of MH17 would be the platform for Malaysia to gain in-depth insight into the tragedy of MH17.
The Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) test pilot said the four suspects had managed to convince the judge of the trial to allow several theories to be posed and scrutinised during the trial which in turn would offer the NOK a glimpse of the truth.
“The trial seems to have taken a good viable approach by taking into account numerous technicalities, eye witness accounts, and also several simulations were done to simulate the tragedy.
“It is in our best interest and also the interest of the next-of-kin that this approach or trajectory is retained and if the perpetrators are found guilty, the punishment should be physically meted out to them rather than sentencing them in absentia.
Flight MH17 was on its way to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam when it was shot down before crashing near Torez in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine – about 40 kilometres from the Russian border – on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 people on board including 43 Malaysian, 193 Dutch and 27 Australian nationals.
Meanwhile, a lecturer in aerospace engineering at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Associate Professor Dr Kamarul Arifin Ahmad said there should be closure to this tragic incident and the culprits sentenced accordingly.
“Malaysia has taken the necessary steps, it just needs to keep monitoring the trial,” he said.
Another aviation expert, Capt Abdul Rahmat Omar Tun Mohd Haniff hoped that the ongoing trial will shed more light on the final moments of the doomed flight.
“I doubt if the trial can bring about any closure. It does not seem as if any of the alleged perpetrators, other than Leonid Kharchenko who is a Ukrainian, will be handed over to face justice.
“The only way is for the western countries to apply political and economic pressure on Russia to hand the alleged Russian perpetrators over. However, given Russia’s attitude, that seems a distant possibility,” he said.
The former Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) investigating officer said Malaysia is unlikely to jeopardise its trade relations with Russia as the country is still in the recovery phase because of the Covid-19 pandemic. – Bernama
