Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says a Lockerbie-style tribunal should be considered to prosecute those behind the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in Ukraine.
Ms Bishop has met with Dutch authorities who have canvassed the option to bring those behind the 2014 disaster to justice, after a report found a Russian-made missile was used to shoot down the plane.
Russia has indicated it would use its veto powers to prevent the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) from investigating the circumstances behind the crash.
Ms Bishop said, while she would not rule out attempting to launch a fresh investigation in the UNSC, a number of alternative options were available.
"Or there can be domestic prosecutions in, say, the Netherlands — as long as they had the powers of extradition and the like.
"I think a domestic-style tribunal would possibly be easier to establish but you'd have to make sure that it had all the necessary powers.
"For example, extradition to be able to absolutely hold those responsible for this atrocity to account."
Ms Bishop met with other countries involved in the joint investigation in New York to discuss the next step in the prosecution of those who fired the missile. (...)
Investigators behind last week's report are unable to file charges over the deaths of the 298 passengers and crew who were on board the aircraft.
But the report identified 100 people who were described as being persons of interest in the case.
The Netherlands has discussed the prospect of an international tribunal, similar to the one set up following the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, when Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up while flying over Scotland.
A special Scottish court was set up in the Netherlands to facilitate the trial of two Libyans charged over the disaster. (...)
A special court would not need UN approval and would be established through a treaty with all the countries that lost citizens and residents in the 2014 disaster.
[RB: The Lockerbie court was a Scottish court, not an international tribunal though, of course, an international agreement (between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands) was necessary for it to be established; and the UN Security Council instructed all member states of the UN to cooperate with it.]
"Russia has indicated it would use its veto powers to prevent the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) from investigating the circumstances behind the crash."
ReplyDeleteOnce I would have thought:
"Of course. Using their veto powers to try to escape justice."
Now I think:
"Of course. Using their veto powers, to try to avoid being another Megrahi/Libya."
There is simply no authority left we can trust, the higher the worse.
A man being convicted for drunk driving probably did it, but a country in a highly politicized case?
The only thing we can be certain about is that the press will tell us what to believe.