The Hague: Eight-and-a-half years pondering if justice would be served.
It’s been that long a wait for the friends and families of the 283 souls who died when flight MH17 was shot out of the sky over eastern Ukraine. And it’s come to this.
The decision of the five-nation Joint Investigation Team to suspend its criminal investigation into who brought down the Malaysian Airlines flight on July 17, 2014 was no less predictable than it was disappointing.
An Orthodox cross with a sign reading Save and Guard, at a memorial to the victims of the downing of MH17, near the village of Hrabove, Russian-controlled Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.Credit:AP
For as long as the Russian government refuses to co-operate – or even acknowledge any association with anyone who played a role in the tragedy – no one will be able to move on.
Indeed, after 12 months of all-out war, the West is only now getting serious about supporting Ukraine. So perhaps we should not be surprised.
The finding of “strong indications” that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally approved the movement of the Russian anti-aircraft weaponry out of the country and into the hand of separatists fighting in the Donbas region of Ukraine comes as little surprise.
The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) holds a news conference in The Hague, Netherlands, on Wednesday. It has suspended the investigation.Credit:AP
Although the Dutch-led investigation team discovered a lot of new information about various people involved, the evidence was not concrete enough to lead to new prosecutions, it said on Thursday. Late last year, it secured the conviction of three military leaders of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic for their role, but they are all still free men. Thanks to the protection of Putin’s cronies, they are unlikely to ever serve time.
But we mustn’t confuse a lack of outcomes with a lack of effort. Hundreds of determined policemen and women, lawyers and investigators have devoted the past eight years to bringing some kind of justice to the dead. And the body of evidence they have collated is as remarkable as it is damning.
Despite the constant denials of the Kremlin, it was established that the Buk missile that downed MH17 came from the Russian Federation. The JIT investigation pointed the finger at 53rd brigade in Kursk, Russia.
In order to establish the identity of the crew, among other things, the JIT tracked down transport orders from this brigade. They show that in June and July 2014 three convoys of vehicles and military personnel were sent from Kursk to the Ukrainian border. The Buk TELAR that shot down the Boeing 777 commercial jet was riding along with them.
After a thorough investigation, the probe led to three more officers – crew members from the 53rd brigade or their supervisors. While their names will not be revealed, a brief of evidence will be passed to other inquiries, including in the European Court of Human Rights.
Intelligence gatherers proved that the Kremlin – as high up as Putin’s own office – was in contact and had knowledge of the work of separatists on the ground. Covert recordings of phone calls found their request for a longer-range anti-aircraft system was discussed in June 2014 – weeks before the attack – at the Presidential Executive Office in Moscow.
In the recorded conversations, Russian officials say the decision to provide military support rests with the president. The decision is even postponed for a week “because there is only one who makes a decision […], the person who is currently at a summit in France”.
They refer to him as “The Number One”.
The wreckage of the MH17 flight, which was shot down in Ukraine in 2014.Credit:AP
At that time, on June 5-6, 2014, Putin was at the commemoration of D-Day in France. There was concrete information that the separatists’ request was presented to the president, and that this request was granted. It was not known whether the request explicitly mentioned a Buk system. But a little later, the heavier air defence systems were delivered, including the Buk that shot down MH17.
But alas, as Deputy Chief Prosecutor Digna van Boetzelaer put it, the high bar of complete and conclusive evidence was not reached. So, the case could not proceed. We must remember that this bar is what differentiates the West from Moscow, where Putin’s political rivals are poisoned, disappeared, met with untimely deaths or jailed without trial.
Putin also enjoys immunity in his position as head of state, although that would change were he to quit or be deposed.
Van Boetzelaer said the purpose of the lengthy investigation was to “find out the truth”.
“I think we have come further than we ever imagined in 2014,” she said. “The world now knows what happened to flight MH17. Three offenders have been identified and sentenced to life imprisonment.”
Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner David McLean remains optimistic that it’s not the end. He said Australia was always committed to see justice done in the interests of the next of kin of the 38 Australian citizens and residents who died. “Solving these kinds of crimes is a matter of patience,” he said, adding the taskforce would continue to share new information.
The answers, ultimately, can only be found in Russia. And for that, we cannot blame the investigating team for not knowing how to tackle the Kremlin or Putin. After all, the rest of the world has been without answers for a long while now.
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