ICAO holds Russia responsible for shooting down a Malaysian plane over Ukraine in 2014

On Monday, the Organization Council voted that Russia did not fulfill its obligations under international air law that obliges countries to “refrain from resorting to the use of weapons against civilian aircraft during flying.” The organization filed with the complaint by the Netherlands and Australia.

The organization said this is the first time in the history of ICAO that its council has issued a decision regarding a dispute between member states under the mechanism of settling conflicts of the organization.

Flight No. MH17 was heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was dropped over eastern Ukraine. All 283 passengers and 15 crew members were killed. They represented about 17 nationalities, including 196 Dutch citizens, 43 Malaysia, and 38 citizens or residents of Australia.

Investigations and condemnation

The development of the International Civil Aviation Organization and applies international technical strategies and standards for aviation, and its council represents its administrative body. The organization formed a special workplace concerned with the dangers that threaten civil aviation caused by the conflict areas, in the weeks that followed the accident.

The Netherlands formed a joint investigation team in August 2014 with Australia, Malaysia and Belgium, as well as Ukraine.

The joint investigation team concluded that the MH17 trip was shot down by a missile fired from the Bok Tilar facility, which was transferred from Russia to an agricultural field in eastern Ukraine in an area controlled by separatists.

In November 2022, a Dutch court convicted three men – who are Russian and Ukrainian – on charges of murder, who were in absentia and sentenced to life imprisonment. Another Russian man was also acquitted.

Violation of the International Civil Aviation Convention

In 2022, the Netherlands and Australia began legal procedures for ICAO. The case focused on allegations that Russia’s behavior in shooting down the plane with a surface -to -air missile is a violation of the International Civil Aviation Convention.

The war has escalated in Ukraine since the crash of the plane that followed the start of the country’s comprehensive invasion of the country in February 2022.

More than 13,000 civilians have been killed so far, more than 31,000, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.