"At the one year anniversary of the shooting-down of the Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine, Latvia mourns for those who lost their lives together with their families," a statement released by the Foreign Ministry said.
"Latvia stands firmly in favor of a continuing international and independent investigation to determine all the facts related to this incident, and, as rapidly as possible, in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolution 2166, to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice," it continued.
Anti-aircraft rockets in the hands of Russia-backed rebels are widely believed to be te most likely cause of the disaster. Russia denies the claims, at various times suggesting various other, increasingly outlandish theories.
This autumn, the Dutch Safety Board is planning to publish its final definitive technical report on the investigation results, bringing greater clarity about those who should be held accountable.
"Latvia supports the request from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine to the UN Security Council on the UNSC’s establishment of an international criminal tribunal that would identify the full facts of what happened one year ago today," the Foreign Ministry said.
Russia has described the move as "unhelpful".
New footage was released Friday by an Australian news channel appearing to show rebel fighters arriving at the scene and discovering to their surprise a civilian airliner rather than a military jet. After a degree of shock, they begin ransacking passengers' bags.
(Note: viewers may find the video below disturbing. Discretion is advised and it is not suitable for children.)
On 17 July 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, a civilian Boeing 777 passenger airliner on route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, was shot down over the territory of Ukraine near the town of Torez about 40 km from the Russian border. 298 people were killed in this catastrophe.
