Malaysia supports MH17 suspects' conviction, Australia asks for their extradition

Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said his country supports the Dutch court’s decision to convict three MH17 suspects. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong publicly asked Russia to extradite the three convicted suspects, who the court sentenced to life in prison. Many Malaysians and Australians also died in the plane crash in 2014. The Boeing 777 was en route to the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down.

Russia’s refusal to extradite the convicted suspects is characteristic of President Vladimir Putin, Wong said. “We want to say to Russia: the world knows that you harbor murderers, and that says something about you, Mr. Putin,” Wong told ABC. The Dutch verdict confirms that “the Russian Federation is responsible,” she said.

Russia called the MH17 trial in the Netherlands biased and said it deeply regrets this. Russia will not extradite its nationals sentenced to life in prison to the Netherlands, a leading parliamentarian announced immediately after the court’s ruling on Thursday.

In March, the Netherlands and Australia jointly initiated legal proceedings with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), among other things, to claim compensation from Russia for MH17.

Dutch MPs also raised concerns about the implementation of the ruling.

“The court speaks of an ‘excess of evidence.’ It is very important that this verdict happened, although it remains difficult for the relatives that the execution of the sentence is very difficult,” said Tom van der Lee (GroenLinks.)

According to Kees van der Staaij (SGP), the verdict does justice “although the suffering of the relatives remains great.”

According to Raymond Knops (CDA), the verdict is “the first step towards justice,” but “the search for exactly what happened that day and who was involved will continue.”

D66 MP Sjoerd Sjoerdsma spoke of a “clear conviction.” But the “chances that these suspects will serve their sentence shoon are minimal,” he tweeted. “The Dutch government should pay a large amount for information that could lead to the arrest or extradition of the three suspects,” he said.

Attje Kuiken (PvdA) also called the verdict clear. “Despite the fact that nothing can take away the great sadness, I hope with all my heart that this verdict answers the relatives and gives them some peace.”

PVV parliamentarian Lilian Helder also hopes that the verdict can “give some peace of mind” to the relatives.