Flight MH17: Australia demands extradition of convicts

The Australian government has asked Russia to extradite the men sentenced to life imprisonment for the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine.

The verdict passed yesterday show that Russia bears responsibility for the downing, said Secretary of State Penny Wong today. "No evasion, obfuscation or disinformation" could put this fact out of the world. Moscow should extradite the three men to face trial for their “heinous crimes.” "We tell Russia: the world knows you harbor murderers - and that says something about you, Mr. Putin," Wong told ABC television.

When the passenger plane was shot down over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, all 298 people on board were killed, including 196 Dutch people. In its verdict, the court considered it proven that the plane was shot down by a Buk-type surface-to-air missile that came from a Russian military base in Kursk.