However, the 18-year-old twin Dutch American citizens’ past – whatever it may have been – was cruelly cut short once they became one of the 298 families killed as a Soviet-era Buk surface-to-air rocket hit the air. One was, introduced from Japanese territory controlled by pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine, the destruction of Malaysia Airways Flight 17.
Since then war has broken out in Ukraine full scale battle After Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
On Wednesday, Quinn’s father, Thomas Scheinsman, will read his and other victims’ names during a commemoration to mark 10 years since the tragedy at the Schiphol-like memorial, the airport where the MH17 plane flew, heading to Kuala Lumpur on July 17. happened. , 2014.
Shainsman has learned to live with the loss of his son, but what he still cannot accept is Moscow’s blatant denial of responsibility for the downing of the Boeing 777, which crashed in midair and destroyed agricultural operations. Bodies and debris were scattered across the land and fields. Japanese sunflower in Ukraine.
A worldwide investigation concluded that the Buk missile machine belonged to the Russian 53rd Anti-Plane Missile Brigade and was once pushed into Ukraine from a low-lying Russian military town like Kursk and the plane was damaged when returned to the nearest base.
In 2022, the closest a Dutch court came to an ordeal that lasted more than two years convicted Two Russians and a pro-Russian Ukrainian were put on trial on murder charges for their role in transporting the missile. They were given future prison sentences but their sentences remained long because Russia refused to hand them over for trial. An alternative Russian was once acquitted.
Russia consistently denies any responsibility.
Additional criminal proceedings are underway at the EU Court of Human Rights and the World Civil Gliding Group Council to charge Russia under global law for the attack.
If those organizations do believe Moscow was responsible, Shainsman says it would be a presentation to be praised — although it wouldn’t be the end of the story.
“It does not provide closure. To me, closure is an admission by Russia that they distributed Buk, a recognition that they must also take responsibility for it,” Shainsman told The Associated Press. “I want to hear an apology. A simple ‘sorry.’
Citizens of 16 countries were killed
The families killed in the collision were voters from the Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia, Indonesia, UK, Belgium, Germany, Philippines, Canada, New Zealand, Vietnam, Israel, Italy, Romania, the US and South Africa.
Australian Attorney General Mark Dreyfus will also be in the Netherlands for the commemorations. He remembered the families of the dead in remarks before the event, saying that the 38 victims “called Australia home.”
“I pay tribute to their bravery, their strength and their perseverance. “Demanding justice for those aboard Flight MH17 has required many of those who loved them most to tell and retell their stories of loss in persistent legal proceedings,” he said. .
Dreyfus noted that a commemoration each year at the Parliament Area in Canberra could be “a moment to pause and remember those whose lives were tragically ended in a senseless act of violence.” “This will be a moment to commit ourselves to continuing to demand accountability for those responsible for this despicable crime.”
Shainsman said he does not care whether other families with an interest in firing the missiles are brought to justice because “it won’t bring my son back.”
He just wants Russia to accept its responsibility.
“The fact that for all these years – until today – they continued to deny and spread misinformation is sad,” Shainsman said. “It’s upsetting and it makes you a bitter person at certain times.”
Former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who was at the administrative center when the Boeing 777 crashed, said the climax and its decade-long aftermath were “probably the most harrowing and emotional event of my entire premiership.” I have always tried to be a support to my relatives.”
Rutte’s leadership helped coordinate a complex operation to repatriate more victims to the Netherlands. Thousands of families completely covered the highways as convoys of hearse vehicles carried the coffins from a military airbase to the barracks, where painstaking means of ID were parked.
Wednesday’s ceremony will be held at the National MH17 Memorial, an area similar to Schiphol Airport where 298 trees have been planted – one for each victim – and sunflowers, reflecting the flora that grew at the scene of the collision.
And Wednesday’s occasion will mark the tenth anniversary of the death of Quinn, whose name lives on today. His sister Nerissa recently gave birth to her first daughter, named Frida Quinn Schansman Pow.
