The Malaysian Government is calling for thorough criminal investigation into the MH17 disaster, following the latest Dutch Safety Board final report that confirmed the passenger plane was shot down by a Russian Buk missile.

Liow Tiong Lai, Malaysia's Minister of Transport, attends an international conference in Beijing on Oct. 14, 2015. [Photo by Chen Boyuan/China.org.cn]

Malaysia's Minister of Transport Liow Tiong Lai said on Wednesday that, upon the completion of the "technical investigation," the Joint International Team (JIT), which is led by the Dutch national police and prosecutor, would launch a criminal probe to find the "culprits" responsible for the air disaster.

"We deem it is a criminal case and therefore international criminal organizations must take the necessary steps so that we can bring them [people responsible] to court," said Liow, who was attending an international conference in Beijing.

The final report on MH17 purposefully avoided suggesting whether the Buk missile was fired from the Russian side or from Ukraine, and Liow also said that the Malaysian government does not want to speculate because the criminal investigation will have the final say.

On the other hand, the International Civil Aviation Organization is currently gathering more data to establish the flight path of the crashed MH17 and the flight zone where it was brought down, according to the transport minister.

At the same time, he confirmed there was no further progress regarding the search of the missing MH370, but promised that Malaysia is "committed to continuing with the search."

Related

• Detonation of Buk missile system-launched warhead causes MH17 crash
• Putin opposed to int'l tribunal on MH17 crash

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)