MH17 Tribunal Designed to Paint Russia as ‘War Criminals’

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Western move to create an international tribunal on the 2014 Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crash in eastern Ukraine was a political instrument used to accuse the Russian government of war crimes, a prominent Canadian international criminal lawyer told Sputnik Wednesday.

On July 29, Russia blocked a UN draft resolution to establish an international tribunal to identify and prosecute those responsible for the Malaysian Boeing 777 plane crash in July 2014. The draft, proposed by Malaysia and backed by Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands and Ukraine, was supported by 11 out of the 15 UNSC member-states. Moscow, in turn, said that the tribunal initiative was premature and counterproductive.

"So they will use it [International tribunal on MH17] as a political tool to bash Russia and to try and make the Russian government look like war criminals," Christopher Black told Sputnik.

According to Black, Western countries are trying to blame the crash on eastern Ukrainian militia, which the West believes is armed by Moscow.

"And they also want to, of course, demonize and attack the republics of Donbass, Luhansk and Donetsk," Black stated.

The draft proposal to create a tribunal was put forward despite the ongoing official investigation into the aircraft crash, he added.

"And so, we now know that [the initiators of the tribunal are] pushing for this tribunal without any investigation being concluded, and right at the same time, they are withholding information which they refuse to deliver despite many demands by Russia and many other countries," Black emphasized.

Moscow has asserted it would continue to assist an impartial probe into the tragedy that killed 298 people, insisting upon waiting for the official findings of the Dutch Safety Board, charged with the inquiry into the crash, and the release of their final report.

The board's preliminary report, released in September 2014, suggested that the plane, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, broke up in mid-air after being hit by numerous high-energy objects that penetrated it from the outside.

Ukraine and its Western allies blame the independence supporters in the country’s east for downing the aircraft. The militia claim that they did not have a weapon capable of bringing down an aircraft.