The case against Russia for the attack on flight MH17
According to the news, a new legal proceeding has been initiated against Russia and its president Vladimir Putin for the downing of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in the airspace of Ukraine on 17 July 2014. The present analysis by Tamás Lattmann examines the outlines of the case.
The Boeing 777 passenger airplane flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was hit by a missile over the conflict-torn Donetsk region; the explosion and the immediate crash of the airplane killed all of the 298 persons (283 passengers and 15 personnel) on board. The victims of the attack represented several nations: the majority of the victims were Dutch, but there were also passengers from Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand. It is thus no wonder that the incident has provoked an international outcry and strong criticism.
Responsibility for the attack
The responsibility for the attack has been seriously debated and is still under investigation. Western European states, the United States and Ukraine have constantly stated that the Russian-backed rebels active in the region are responsible for the incident, as they employ weapon systems capable of causing such a disaster, which are provided to them by Russia. This statement has been backed up by data from intelligence sources as well. On the other hand, Russia blames Ukrainian state forces for the accident, as they use similar weapons...
