Members of a joint investigative group from the Netherlands, Belgium, Australia, Ukraine, Malaysia and the European Union's Judicial Cooperation Unit (Eurojust) supported the proposal to continue the inquiry on Wednesday, Oct. 29.
“The Prosecutor General’s Office was one of those who initiated the formation of an international investigative group. It is our priority or even our duty to the international community to hold a detailed inquiry into this tragedy and restore justice,” the office quoted Prosecutor General Vitaliy Yarema as saying at the group meeting.
The group has managed to identify 284 bodies and questioned specialists and experts in the field of aircraft building, air traffic control and weaponry and Buk missile launcher operators.
“People who live close to the crash site have also been interviewed. Numerous examinations, studies and other investigative procedures are underway to determine circumstances of the tragedy,” the report said.
Yarema assured investigative group members that the Ukrainian side was interested in the full, objective and impartial inquiry into the air crash. He also said he would like the group to continue working.
“Group members thanked Ukraine for arranging their activity and supported the proposal to continue the joint investigation. It was decided at the end of the meeting that the group would carry on its work and prospects of the joint investigation were mapped out,” the report said.
The Prosecutor General’s Office recalled that an agreement setting up the joint investigative group of the Netherlands, Belgium, Australia, Ukraine, Malaysia and Eurojust was signed on Aug. 7, 2014.
Seeking to support the operations of foreign members of the investigative group, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yarema approved a program of the admission and interaction between foreign members of the international investigative group and the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office on Aug. 26, 2014.
The joint group got down to business on Sept. 1, 2014, on the premises of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office.
The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 en route from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, crashed in the Donetsk region on July 17. The crash killed all 298 people on board.
