Mh17 Trial A Glimpse Of Hope For Justice And Closure

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MH17 TRIAL | The criminal trial against four suspects charged with the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014 is set to begin tomorrow and may prove to be the light at the end of the tunnel for families of the 298 victims who perished in the incident
After waiting anxiously for almost six years now, several of the next-of-kin (NOK) whom Malaysiakini spoke to have expressed hope that the trial will provide a form of closure for their families
While at the same time realising that nothing would bring back their loved ones, the relatives want to see justice served, nearly six years after the tragedy
"We would like to see the court bring justice to this matter and fairness to be meted out so that the perpetrators of this horrible crime can be held accountable and responsible
"We hope this matter will be taken seriously and will not be swept under the carpet as 298 innocent lives have been taken away inhumanely," said Scott Choo, son of late MH17 pilot Eugene Choo
In a text message passed to Malaysiakini through the family's spokesperson on Saturday, Scott, 17, said they were also hopeful that all MH17 NOK would be given adequate, sufficient and fair compensation
This was especially important to families who had lost their breadwinners in the July 17 tragedy
"I have been working hard to obtain a scholarship to further my education. Fortunately, Matrix Global Schools and King Henry VII have granted me a scholarship
"Besides that, my mother has to work as a real estate agent for she is now the breadwinner of the family after the loss of my father
"We will be hopeful that justice will be served as soon as possible," Scott added
For Mariam Yusof, the widow of MH17 Captain Wan Amran Wan Hussin, the six years of waiting was a long time for the NOK to see justice being served
"It has been six years... All of us hope that justice gets served," she said
Similar sentiments were shared by the brother of Paul Sivagnanam, who perished in the incident together with his wife Mabel Anthonysamy and their son Matthew Ezekial
Patrick Sivagnanam told Malaysiakini the criminal trial is a step in the right direction
"I’m not sure how to define justice being served," Patrick said, responding to a question whether he has confidence that justice would be served through the criminal process
"(But) I do think the trial is a step in the right direction
"I am grateful to the joint investigation team (JIT) and the Dutch legal system for the amount of work they put in to bring it to this point," he said
Meanwhile, the chairperson of MH17 Tragedy Foundation, Piet Ploeg (centre in photo), told Malaysian journalists yesterday that the trial served as a great importance to the relatives of the victims
While he believes that closure would be an impossibility when losing a loved one in such a "gruesome manner", Ploeg said he hopes to see a conviction of those responsible in court even if having them serve out their sentence remains only a remote possibility
"They may be convicted... I really hope so. To be honest, I think they are going to be convicted, but they will never do time
"But for us, the world needs to know what happened, why did it happen, what was the role of the Russian state or Russian army? The world should know what happened," he said when met at the MH17 Memorial in Amsterdam
According to Ploeg, only after the conclusion of the trial that political action can be taken against the state responsible for the downing of the aircraft
"If the convicted are not going to do time in prison, then the government, our government, they have to take measures if it is clear Russia had a role. If the court decides Russia had a role, there must be political action," said Ploeg, who lost his brother, sister-in-law and a nephew in the incident
On July 17, 2014, MH17 departed Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam for Kuala Lumpur only to be shot down by a Russian-made BUK missile when flying over Ukrainian airspace, killing all 298 people on board
Following this, a multi-state JIT identified three former Russian military officers and a Ukrainian, all linked to the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, as being allegedly responsible for the incident
They are Oleg Pulatov, a former Russian GRU military intelligence officer; Igor Girkin, a former colonel with the Russian Federal Security Service or FSB; Sergey Dubinskiy, a former military officer of the GRU; and Leonid Kharchenko, who is the only Ukrainian suspect
All four of them are expected to be charged at the District Court of The Hague at 10am tomorrow with the downing of MH17 and murder of the 298 victims
ALSO READ: Why is the MH17 trial in the Netherlands? Malaysian NOK hopeful gov't would be more concerned of their plightOn Friday, a judge in charge of the press at the District Court of The Hague told journalists that the trial process would provide an opportunity for relatives of the victims to address the court
According to Yolande Wijnnobel, they can do so through making a verbal impact statement in the court, or via a written statement, should they be unable to attend the hearings
However, according to the Malaysian NOK, there was no trip organised to bring the relatives to attend the proceedings at Schiphol Judicial Complex, nor any effort made to gather impact statements from them to deliver to the court
Several of them also complained that they were not given any updates on the proceedings of the case by Malaysian authorities or flight carrier, MAS
"I don't think the others (NOK) are going to Amsterdam, too. There was no information from MAS," said Mariam
"I only received an invitation from the Netherlands, which I have already replied saying that I won't be able to attend the hearings. So they will update me via email," she added
According to Patrick, he had no information about any Malaysian NOK attending the hearings as well
"I don’t know of any Malaysian NOK going. I heard in Australia they were arranging to send their NOK."Patrick said he hoped the new government would engage with the NOK. Keep us informed on developments, stuff like that. That’s all I ask."Noraini Md Noor, the sister of victim Nor Rahimah, when contacted via text message, also said she was not informed about the trial
Malaysiakini also asked several of the NOK, including Ploeg, on the stand by the previous Malaysian administration over JIT's findings that blames Russia for the tragedy
Dr Mahathir Mohamad had in September last year said that some of the findings were not "quite right"
"We were shocked... The government of Malaysia supports the findings of the JIT but the leader of Malaysia doesn't," said Ploeg
"We were angry with him. How could you disagree with the findings of an investigation participated by your country? We felt sorry for the NOK in Malaysia," he added
For Mariam, she urged the new administration to help them get justice
"I don't know (what to say). Dr Mahathir previously said he disagreed (with the outcome of the investigation)
"The new government under Tan Sri (Muhyiddin Yassin), I am not sure what would be their stand, it is still new. But what we want is only justice
"No one wants to help us, unlike other countries that care for their people."Patrick, meanwhile, said that until any other proof was presented, he would accept JIT's findings
"My stand is that in the absence of any other investigation being presented, I would accept JIT’s work as definitive," he said
- Mkini

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