Expert sees alternative to MH17 tribunal

A hybrid court may be an alternative to setting up an MH17 international criminal tribunal, thus bypassing the Russian veto, according to Andriy Kozlov, expert on international aviation law, Ukrainian TV Channel 5 reports.

"We don’t see any signs that the Russian Federation will change its attitude towards setting up the tribunal under the auspices of the UN Security Council. Obviously, will be looking for other possibilities, such as the creation of a so-called" hybrid court," said Kozlov in an interview with Channel 5.

According to the expert, such a court could be established by agreement between the countries, which are part of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), and the United Nations. If the agreement is not ratified, the General Assembly might grant the right to sign it to the UN Secretary General.

According to Kozlov, this option is less effective than the resolution of the Security Council, but it can also work.

UNIAN memo. Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was downed in Donetsk region on July 17, 2014. There is mounting evidence that the plane was shot down by a powerful Buk-M anti-aircraft missile system. All 298 people on board were killed. Most of the passengers, 194, were Dutch citizens, while 43 people, including all of the aircraft's crew, were citizens of Malaysia.

Malaysia has submitted to the UN Security Council a draft resolution on setting up of an international tribunal to investigate the crash. The initiative to create a tribunal was supported by Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands and Ukraine.

At a meeting of the UN Security Council on July 29, Russia vetoed the draft resolution on setting up an international criminal tribunal to investigate into the MH17 crash on July 17, 2014, which killed all 298 people onboard.

After the vote, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Bert Koenders said the Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia, Belgium and Ukraine will continue the search for mechanisms to bring to justice those who shot down the aircraft.

On August 11, the Dutch Security Council reported that the JIT in cooperation with the Dutch Safety Board was investigating several parts, possibly originating from a Buk surface-air-missile system. These parts have been secured during a previous recovery-mission in Eastern-Ukraine and are in possession of the criminal investigation team

The Ukrainian delegation visits the Netherlands on August 10-12, where the technical reconstruction of the crash is being performed.