Nabestaanden vragen Trump om Poetin aan te spreken over 'doofpot' MH17-ramp
De Werkgroep Waarheidsvinding MH17 heeft de Amerikaanse president Donald Trump in een brief gevraagd om de MH17-ramp aan te kaarten bij de Russische president Vladimir Poetin.
Trump en Poetin ontmoeten elkaar later deze maand. In de brief haalt de werkgroep de zaak-Khashoggi aan. Trump had de opstelling van de Saoedische regering rond de verdachte dood van de journalist 'de slechtste doofpot in de geschiedenis van doofpotten' genoemd.
Rusland ontkent betrokkenheid
De werkgroep, die bestaat uit nabestaanden van slachtoffers die op 17 juli 2014 omkwamen bij de ramp, hopen dat Trump Poetin aanspreekt over de zaak.
Zij vinden dat de houding van Rusland ten opzichte van de MH17-ramp - het constant ontkennen van Russische betrokkenheid hierbij - in dezelfde categorie thuishoort als de zaak-Khashoggi en dus ook een soortgelijke reactie verdient.
Geen doofpotten accepteren
"Een reactie die aandringt op de waarheid en geen doofpotten accepteert. Als één enkel onschuldig leven zo'n reactie verlangt, dan zijn 298 er zeker genoeg", schrijven ze. "Niemand heeft de verantwoordelijkheid genomen. In plaats daarvan zijn ettelijke pogingen ondernomen om wat er op die gruwelijke zomerse dag is gebeurd, onder het tapijt te schuiven."
Pogingen die door Poetin werden gesteund, benadrukt de werkgroep. "Poetin heeft antwoorden waar wij recht op hebben."
Een reactie op de brief is tot nu toe uitgebleven.
De brief van de werkgroep:
Wassenaar/New York City, October 28, 2018
To the President of the United States of America
Dear Mister Trump,
Receiving news on a possible meeting between you and President Putin of Russia, we feel compelled to write to you. We are some thirty families of victims of Flight MH-17, shot down over Ukraine in 2014.
Recently you labelled the murder on Mister Jamal Khashoggi as ‘one of the worst cover-ups in the history of cover-ups’. Acknowledging we do not have all the facts here, we feel you may be right. As long as we can also agree on the fact that the enduring cover-up for 298 murders on all MH-17 passengers and crew, is in the same category. No responsibility has been taken, by anyone. Instead, several obvious attempts have been made to cover up what really happened on that horrific summer’s day. Attempts by Russian Federation officials, backed and repeated by President Putin.
Although we still cannot know what the exact Russian Federation’s role was, they have floated multiple versions of what must have happened – versions that have all have been refuted by the facts we do know, as well as by evidence provided by the Joint Investigating Team. We understand that confidential intelligence available to your government also fully sustains this notion.
In the recent tragic and brutal murder of Mister Khashoggi the world has reacted accordingly, pressing for the truth and not accepting any cover-ups. We hope that you agree that if a single innocent life calls for this, two hundred and ninety eight, including one US citizen, certainly qualify.
President Putin seems to work hard for regaining respect for the Russian people, and for himself to go down in history as a great statesman. If he truly is such a person, he must understand that that cover-up stories, especially the obvious ones in serious crimes such as the attack on MH-17, work against achieving that goal.
As families we have a right to know what happened to our loved ones. We call on you Sir, in assisting us in our rightful quest. President Putin has answers we are entitled to hear. We call on you, to try and convince him that it is never too late for redemption. Honoring our loved ones, for the good of this world.
– Working group Truth-finding MH-17
