PH supports kin of 298 MH17 victims in their quest for justice

FILE: Malaysia Airlines Airbus A350-900 at London Heathrow Airport in 2019 (Photo by Sidowpknbkhihj/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

MANILA – The Philippine government supports the efforts to seek justice for the victims of the downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said as the tragedy marks its sixth anniversary this year.

The Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 took off for Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014, from Amsterdam but never landed at its destination.

“The Philippines supports continued efforts to hold to account those responsible for this incident, in accordance with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2166 of 2014,” the agency said in a statement dated March 11.

The criminal trial on the shooting down of MH17 has begun on March 9, 2020, at the Justice Complex Schiphol, Netherlands, following the inquiry of a Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT).

Four men are charged with “intentionally causing an aircraft to crash” resulting in the deaths of 298 people from 17 countries, including three from the Philippines.

The JIT recently reported that the flight was shot down by a Buk-missile launched from an agricultural field near the town of Pervomaiskyi, to the south of the town of Snizhne in Ukraine.