News date: 19 February 2016
Arseniy Herasymiv, attorney at Ilyashev & Partners Law Firm, specializing in air law, delivered a speech on the International Legal Implications of the MH-17 Tragedy at the IATA Legal Simposium 2016 in Barcelona (Spain) on February 19, 2016.
Arseniy participated in the plenary panel “Navigating an effective criminal justice response to cases of unlawful interference”, where they discussed geopolitical factors of committing deliberate acts of violence in civil aviation, explored the prognosis for justice in cases like MH17 and Metrojet 9268 in terms of international criminal law.
In his speech Arseniy Herasymiv noted that the International Criminal Court may become an appropriate forum for criminal investigation: “Ukraine is the participant of the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the International Criminal Court, European Convention on Extradition. Under criminal procedure law, the criminal proceedings may be transferred to the competent authority of another country in accordance with the motion of the investigator agreed with the prosecutor, or the court. Not finished criminal proceedings may be transferred to another state if the extradition of the wanted person was impossible or extradition to Ukraine was rejected. Thus, Ukrainian court, national police may apply effective measures in order to assists ICC in justice”. The attorney emphasized the need for political support from the international community to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Recall that in 2014 Ilyashev & Partners, one of the leading law firms in Ukraine in the field of aviation, advised on the possibilities of compensation of damage caused as a result of air accident with a shot down Malaysian airliner MH-17 in the territory of Ukraine.
Passenger Boeing-777 of Malaysia Airlines, en route flight MH17 “Amsterdam – Kuala Lumpur”, was shot down on July 17, 2014 in the zone of armed conflict in the Donetsk region. All 298 passengers and crew on board were killed. On October 13, 2015, the Dutch Safety Board presented the results of the investigation, where it was reported that the airliner was shot down from the Russian-made Buk Antiaircraft Missile System, but the persons responsible for the rocket launch were not named.
About the event
IATA Legal Symposium is the annual international communication platform for government regulators, air carriers and legal advisors specializing in air law. The event is organized by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
IATA is an International non-governmental organization with headquarters in Montreal (Canada), acts as a coordinator and representative of interests of the aviation industry in ensuring flight safety, tariff policy, technical maintenance, development of international standards together with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).