MH17 report: Australian families say critical questions remain unanswered

A DETAILED brief of evidence against pro-Russian rebels who brought down flight MH17 has been criticised by an Australian aviation lawyer as ‘inadequate’.

A DETAILED brief of evidence against pro-Russian rebels who brought down flight MH17 has been criticised by an Australian aviation lawyer as “inadequate”.

The Joint Investigation Team for MH17, made up of experts from Australia, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Belgium and Malaysia, released their interim findings to next of kin yesterday.

The report moved beyond doubt the responsibility of pro-Russian rebels for the atrocity, that claimed the lives of 298 people.

But investigators are seeking public help to identify people in phone intercepts and other evidence gathered by the JIT.

Shine Lawyers’ senior aviation lawyer Thomas Janson said the compilations of the findings would no doubt bring comfort to many families of the passengers.

“But there are omissions from the criminal report about the culpability of Malaysia Airlines in respect of allowing the flight to be conducted over an active conflict zone and the failure to adequately assess the dangers inherent in operating over an area where heavy weaponry was being used by both sides,” Mr Janson said.

Soldiers at the horrific site of MH17’s deadly crash. Picture: Supplied

“Further investigation needs to consider the failures of Malaysia Airlines to properly and thoroughly conduct an assessment of the flight routes that MH17 took, and the failure to properly heed the warnings of the government of Ukraine and the Russian Federation to airlines and governments concerning the dangers inherent in operating over eastern Ukraine.”

He said the warnings were heeded by other airlines and governments who advised their carriers to choose flight routes that did not place the lives of passengers and crews in danger.

Malaysia Airlines is currently facing legal action from up to a dozen Australian families over the MH17 disaster.

The families, including Perth’s Maslin-Norris family who lost their three children in the atrocity, are seeking to hold Malaysia Airlines to account for negligent operation.

The matters before the Federal Court of Australia are next listed for hearing on November 8.

Meantime, families of MH17 passengers have praised the work of the Joint Investigation Team examining the atrocity that claimed the lives of 298 people.

Paul Guard, whose parents Roger and Jill Guard were among the 38 passengers who called Australia home, said the amount of work done by the JIT was “impressive”.

But he said the decision to make Ukraine part of the investigation team meant Russia would never accept the findings because the JIT was perceived as political.

Paul Guard is the son of Jill and Roger Guard who were among the 298 people killed on MH17. Picture: Mark Cranitch.

Roger and Jill Guard were among the 38 passengers who called Australia home. Picture: Supplied.

“Maybe they needed Ukraine’s co-operation but that doesn’t mean they had to be embedded in the investigation, they could’ve been at arm’s length — that would’ve been a much smarter idea in terms of getting Russia’s co-operation and in terms of perception,” said Mr Guard.

“The government of Russia and the people of Russia are never going to accept the investigation team’s findings when the government of Ukraine is on the investigation team.”

Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium and Malaysia also have personnel on the team which is examining the criminal aspect of the July 17, 2014 disaster.

Mr Guard said it was disappointing Russia was “burying its head in the sand and refusing to accept the JIT’s evidence” which overwhelmingly showed pro-Russian rebels fired the BUK missile that brought down the Malaysia Airlines’ 777.

While family members mourn for their loved ones, they say the report is getting them closer towards finding out the truth of what happened to MH17. Picture: News Corp Australia

“There probably isn’t any other country in the world that’s harder to get the truth and some sort of justice out of — Russia’s obviously a very opaque sort of place,” said Mr Guard.

“And until (President) Putin’s gone, I don’t know that you’ll have any luck in getting any resolution or co-operation.

“But people are trying and that’s probably a good thing.”

He said many questions still remained about MH17, in particular — why Ukraine had not closed the airspace over the civil war zone and why Malaysia Airlines failed to do a proper risk assessment of its flight path from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

A war plane was shot down from a similar height just a few days before MH17 was downed, and a number of airlines, including Qantas, had made the decision not to fly over the region.

“The International Civil Aviation Organisation didn’t have a good system for getting countries to shut down their airspace and probably still don’t,” Mr Guard said.

Family members praised the work of the Joint Investigation Team examining the MH17 atrocity during the release of the report.

“The airlines are probably more conservative now but are they getting the right information?”

The JIT is now seeking public help to identify voices on phone intercepts linked to the downing of MH17.

Mr Guard said he would like to see people punished for the atrocity but he was mindful of the fact “it was a war”.

“I don’t think they intended to bring down a passenger aircraft,” he said.

“Both sides had that type of missile, so who pressed the button is kind of, yes they probably made a terrible mistake and they probably deeply regret it, hopefully, but they were trying to shoot down planes isn’t that enough of a criminal offence?”