MOSCOW, November 15. /TASS/. International human rights activists have urged the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the United Nations and the Council of Europe (СE) to step up efforts to investigate the loss of the Malaysian Boeing in Ukraine last summer and to probe into all versions that appear in the mass media. The message containing the demand has been dispatched to the OSCE Secretary-General Lamberto Zannier, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Zeid Raad al-Hussein and the Council of Europe’s High Commissioner for Human rights Nils Muiznieks (a copy of this document was obtained by TASS).
As one of the signatories to the message, member of the presidential council for civil society and human rights, Alexander Brod, told TASS, the message was authored by public figures and human rights activists in Britain, France, Italy, Bulgaria, Poland and two African countries. They recall that four months have passed since the day of the tragedy, but there has been no information to this day regarding the causes of the plane’s loss or those responsible.
“Everything that we have heard from officials throughout these months was confined to groundless charges or general, meaningless statements. The public at large is kept ignorant of progress in the investigation,” the message runs.
Brod believes that the procrastinations breed many “rumors, speculations and groundless charges against Russia over this tragedy.” “We would like to meet with the UN and CE high commissioners for human rights with the aim to create a working group of international experts and human rights campaigners in order to maintain a continued dialogue with the panel of inquiry and to prevent it from relaxing. It is very important to avoid politicization of the investigation,” he said.
The authors of the message believe a special mechanism must be established to regularly brief the public on progress in the investigation and discuss the issue at the UN and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and other organizations.
“We are urging prevention of pressures on the investigators some officials that have nothing to do with the probe exert by making groundless claims. Any information that appears in the mass media should be checked and the public briefed on the findings,” the message runs.
A passenger Boeing-777 of the Malaysian airlines, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed near Donetsk on July 17. All 298 passengers and crew on board died. Most of its passengers — 196 — were Dutch nationals.