Long road to justice for relatives of MH17 victims

The preliminary report of an investigation into the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight 17 falls well short of bringing closure to those mourning the deaths of the 298 people on board. It found the Boeing 777 aircraft was likely penetrated from the outside by multiple "high energy objects" before breaking up in flight over war-torn eastern Ukraine, which is consistent with a missile strike. The report stopped short of saying that, but no one is suggesting anything else. Despite denials, suspicion remains confined to pro-Russian, Moscow-armed separatist rebels and their backers.

The Dutch Safety Board - most of the victims were Dutch - completed the preliminary report in less than two months, without being able to visit the war-ravaged crash site. Investigators are now aiming for a definitive report within a year of the crash on July 17.

Lamentably, barring the unlikely event that anyone admits knowledge of the atrocity, full closure will be elusive, not to mention a long and arduous journey. We need only recall the 1988 Lockerbie disaster, in which an American aircraft crashed in Scotland with the loss of 270 lives, and the 11 years before a Libyan intelligence officer was brought to justice, to see just how long. And, forensically at least, that was a relatively straightforward case of an on-board bomb and an accessible crash site. Libya may have been uncooperative, but investigation of aviation crimes involving several parties including armed combatants can be even messier.

In place of informed speculation, we now have evidence that would convince any reasonable person that a surface-to-air missile downed MH17. Hopefully officials can draw on any lessons from the Lockerbie affair, and on the air-safety expertise of other interested parties, to keep the investigation process on track. An independent and truly impartial investigation is the only way to determine the truth. Claims of bias may yet obstruct justice and closure. In that case, the United Nations could be asked to set up a special independent panel.