Need For Effective Prosecution Model Over MH17 Tragedy - Julie Bishop

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 5 (Bernama) -- Australia has said it will work with Malaysia and other parties probing the downing of MH17 towards establishing an effective model to prosecute those responsible. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop (second from left) said allowing impunity over the MH17 disaster would send a dangerous message that the international community was too weak to unite to solve this crime. "We can't allow impunity when it comes to the bringing down of a commercial airline in commercial airspace with innocent victims on board," she said in remarks at the opening of the ASEAN-Australia Ministerial Meeting here Wednesday. It was part of a series of meetings organised in conjunction with the convening of the 48th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting (AMM), Post-Ministerial Conferences and Related Meetings from Aug 1 to 6. The Malaysia Airlines' Boeing 777 plane was en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam when it was brought down over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 people aboard including 39 Australians as well as 43 Malaysians. Russia used its veto power in the UN Security Council last month to block a five-nation proposal, initiated by Malaysia, to establish an ad hoc criminal international tribunal to try those responsible for the downing of MH17. On MH370, which disappeared on March 8 last year en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, Bishop noted that there was some hope that "we may be closer to finding a solution". Nevertheless, she said Australia would continue to lead search efforts for the missing plane in the search area in the southern Indian Ocean. A Malaysian team is verifying whether a flaperon recently found on Reunion island in the Indian Ocean is part of the missing MH370. The piece of debris has been brought to Toulouse, France for the verification process. (photoBERNAMA) -- BERNAMA