Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Sunday said that the perpetrators of the attack on Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 could be tried in absentia, reported Reuters. Flight MH17 was shot down by a Russian-made Buk missile over eastern Ukrainian territory, the Dutch Safety Board concluded in 2015 after an investigation. All 298 people on board were killed, including 38 Australians.
Bishop said “every legal avenue” was being pursued, and called on Russia to comply with UN Security Council resolution 2,166, authored by Australia. The resolution “calls on all states to cooperate to ensure that those responsible for the killing are brought to justice,” she said. “It may be that there will have be to a trial in absentia.”
In June, the Netherlands had said that suspects in the case would be tried in a Dutch court. Russia had denied any involvement in the shooting down of the aircraft.
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