8NEWSUN HOLDS RUSSIA ACCOUNTABLE FOR MH17 DOWNING, CITING INTERNATIONAL LAW VIOLATIONThe UN said Russia was to blame for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine in 2014.Every person aboard the Malaysian passenger plane died when it was hit by a Russian-made missile. The Kremlin has never said it was responsible for the air disaster. On Monday, the UN's Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) voted that the Russian Federation failed to uphold its obligations under international air law, which requires states to "refrain from resorting to the use of weapons against civil aircraft in flight".The Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, going from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down as it crossed the Donbas region of Ukraine while pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian soldiers were fighting. Seventy percent of those on board, or 196 people, were Dutch citizens. The flight had 38 people from Australia, ten British citizens, as well as passengers representing Belgium and Malaysia. The case was put forward to the UN by Australia and the Netherlands in 2022, and both governments are pleased with the ICAO ruling."We call upon Russia to finally face up to its responsibility for this horrific act of violence and make reparations for its egregious conduct", said Australia's foreign minister Penny Wong in a statement.The Dutch foreign minister, Caspar Veldkamp, said it marked an "important step towards establishing the truth and achieving justice and accountability. States cannot violate international law with impunity."In 2022, a Dutch court found a Russian-controlled group guilty of downing the plane and gave two Russians and a Ukrainian loyal to Moscow prison sentences for murder, even though none of them has served time. GLi
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