Some of Dutch families of MH17 victims condering to sue Ukraine for not closing airspace

Some of the families of Dutch victims of the MH17 shot down are considering to sue Ukraine for not closing the airspace in July 2014, Dutch RTL Nieuws report. As a result a BUK surface to air missile shot down MH17 killing all 298 people on board.

Dutch Safety Board concluded in their final report on MH17 that Ukraine, considering the shotdown of multiple military aircraft in the weeks before MH17 was shot down,  should have closed the airspace for civil aircraft. One of the possible reasons for Ukraine not to close the airspace could be the money Ukraine receives from airlines using the airspace. This is about 300 million Euro per year. Another reason for not closing could be this closure is seen as a defeat for the Kiev government.

German lawyer Giemulla  submitted in early 2016 an application to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and accuses the Ukraine Government of failing its legal duty to prevent civilian aircraft from flying into the airspace Ukrainian officials knew to be dangerous.

An interview with Giemulla is published here.

A condemnation of Ukraine must result in jurisprudence which obliges other countries to close their airspace in unsafe situations. Ukraine would also have to pay compensation of around 300 million euros.

On Thursday May 11 next of kin will be informed on the legal steps by Dutch specialists. This meeting is in Amsterdam and anyone is free to attend. Register here.

The item by RTL Nieuws on tv can be seen here.