A DECADE AFTER MH17 TRAGEDY: LEST WE FORGET!

By N. Sevagamy

KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 (Bernama) - - It has been a decade since the downing of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 tragedy in 2014, which took the lives of all 298 people on board, including 80 children. 

As a tribute to the innocent souls that perished in the devastating tragedy, the 10th commemoration will be held on July 17 at the National Monument MH17 at Park Vijfhuizen near Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, according to the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Malaysia.

To witness the historic events, five Malaysian media representatives including Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) have been invited to participate in the remembrance programmes, which are scheduled for three days, starting on July 15.

The programme includes a series of events and site visits designed to provide an in-depth understanding of the ongoing efforts and cooperation between the Netherlands and Malaysia in the aftermath of the MH17 disaster.

On the first day, an interview session was scheduled with Digna van Boetzelaer, former Chief Public Prosecutor at the Public Prosecution Service, District Public Prosecutor's Office 'Noord-Holland'. She was leading the prosecution and criminal investigation into the downing of flight MH17.

Other than that, an interview was scheduled with the next-of-kin, as well as visits to the reconstruction of flight MH17, which is placed in the military base in Gilze-Rijen, central Netherlands.

“Apart from the next-of-kin, almost 1,500 people from across the world will gather for the ceremony. The pain of their passing (victims) is still felt intensely today, by their families and friends all over the world. 

“As we approach ten years since this tragedy, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine wish to underline that we remain steadfast in our commitment to achieving truth, justice and accountability for the victims of the downing of flight MH17 and their next-of-kin. 

“Those who have been left behind deserve closure. They need to know that everything that can be done has been done to prevent these tragedies from happening in the future,” according to the embassy. 

On July 14, 2014, MH17 was downed by a BUK missile while flying over the conflict-hit eastern Ukraine, and everybody on board was killed. 

 The victims came from 17 countries and included 198 Dutch nationals, 43 Malaysians, 38 Australians, and 10 from the United Kingdom. 

Following the horrific incident, on November 17, 2022, the Hague District Court convicted in absentia two Russians and a Ukrainian to life imprisonment after finding them guilty on charges of causing the downing of MH17 and the murders of all 298 people on board.

They are Russians Igor Girkin and Sergei Dubinsky and Ukrainian citizen Leonid Kharchenko. However, the court acquitted another Russian, Oleg Pulatov, of the same charges.

The court also ordered the three men to pay more than 16 million euros in compensation to the relatives of the victims.

--BERNAMA