MOSCOW: Russia has turned to the International Court of Justice to challenge the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)’s basele...
MOSCOW: Russia has turned to the International Court of Justice to challenge the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)’s baseless decision on alleged Russian involvement in the 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash, and counts on the UN court’s impartiality, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"In accordance with Article 84 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, on September 18, the Russian Federation challenged the International Civil Aviation Organization’s baseless decision about Russia’s alleged involvement in the crash of the Boeing Malaysia flight MH17 in the International Court of Justice of the United Nations," the ministry said. "We hope that the UN International Court of Justice will show an utmost unbiased approach in this high-profile case."
The ministry said that earlier, in contrast to UN Security Council Resolution 2166, the ICAO Council did not see fit to hold a "full, thorough and independent international investigation into the circumstances of the crash, relying on quite dubious results of a technical and criminal investigation, conducted by an interested party - the Netherlands and based on tampered ‘facts’ provided mostly by another interested party, Ukraine."
"Therefore, the Russian side challenged the ICAO Council’s decision on all aspects - jurisdiction, applied legal norms, factual knowledge and in connection with pernicious violations of the procedure. The very fact of challenging does not imply in any way that the Russian side legitimized or recognized any findings of the ICAO Council on this matter, which it earlier declared null and void," the ministry said.
Russian diplomats also noted that although the tragedy occurred over 11 years ago, "there is still a long way to go in the quest for truth."
"Since the ICAO Council ruling has been challenged, it has not entered force. This will undoubtedly be a disappointment for the Hague and Canberra, who have already demanded compensation from the Russian side on the basis of the ICAO Council’s quasi-judicial activities and are probably getting ready to demonize Russia during the 42th session of the ICAO Assembly, to begin in Montreal on September 23," the ministry said. "Russia will seek truth in accordance with its obligations under the UN Charter and relevant norms of international law."
About the crash
Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in the Donetsk Region of Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing 298 people from ten countries. A joint investigative team (JIT) comprising representatives from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine, was established in order to carry out a criminal investigation into the crash. The case was heard at the Hague District Court. In November 2022, the court found three people guilty in the case and sentenced them in absentia to life imprisonment. They were former militia leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Igor Girkin, also known as Igor Strelkov, and his subordinates Sergey Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and Leonid Kharchenko. Oleg Pulatov, the fourth defendant and the only one whose interests were represented by a team of lawyers, was acquitted due to lack of evidence. Russian officials have repeatedly doubted the JIT’s findings, pointing to the groundlessness of the prosecution’s arguments and reluctance to take into account conclusions from Moscow’s probe.
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