应继续探求MH17被击落事件的真相
The conflict between the Ukrainian government and Russian-backed rebels has brought much bloodshed over the past 18 months. No single event has been as startling as the shooting down one year ago of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. Some 298 people were killed, two-thirds of them Dutch nationals. Today there has still been little progress bringing the perpetrators of this event to justice.
过去18个月，乌克兰政府与俄罗斯支持的叛军之间的冲突导致大量人员伤亡。但任何事件都比不上一年前马航(Malaysia Airlines) MH17航班被击落那么令人震惊。在此次事件中，有大约298人丧生，其中三分之二为荷兰人。如今，相关方面在将肇事者绳之以法方面几乎仍未取得任何进展。
The reasons for the crash are fiercely contested between western governments and the Russian authorities. The west believes that the plane was shot down with a Russian supplied anti-aircraft BUK missile system, controlled either by the rebels or by Russian soldiers. There is considerable evidence pointing to this, based on radio intercepts, photographic and video material. But Moscow rejects the claim, arguing that the plane was hit by a missile fired from a Ukrainian fighter jet.
西方政府与俄罗斯当局对于此次坠机的原因存在激烈争议。西方认为，飞机是被俄罗斯提供的山毛榉(BUK)防空导弹体系击落的，该体系要么由乌克兰叛军控制，要么由俄罗斯士兵控制。有不少证据指向这一结论，这些证据基于截获的无线电情报、照片和视频资料。但俄罗斯否认这种说法，主张飞机是被一架乌克兰战斗机发射的导弹击落的。
The best hope for establishing exactly what did happen lies with two investigations by the Dutch authorities that are yet to conclude. One by the Dutch Safety Board is set to be published in October but is focused solely on establishing the technical cause of the crash and will not ascribe blame. The national prosecutor in the Netherlands is leading a separate international criminal investigation to establish culpability, but there is no indication when it will finally report.
还原事件真相的最大希望落在荷兰当局展开的两项调查上，这两项调查尚未得出结论。荷兰安全委员会(Dutch Safety Board)主持的调查按计划将于10月公布结果，但将只关注于确定此次坠机的技术原因，不会确定真凶。荷兰国家检察院正主持一项独立的国际刑事调查，以确定罪责，但该机构将何时最终提交报告尚不得而知。
No prosecution can begin until there has been an authoritative account of the facts by these inquiries. But Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, has rightly recognised that if justice is to be done, the evidence will ultimately have to be submitted to some kind of judicial authority. He has therefore begun lobbying allies to back the creation of an international tribunal that could one day mount a prosecution.
在这些调查对事实真相进行权威描述之前，不可能提起任何诉讼。荷兰首相马克吕特(Mark Rutte)正确认识到，如果要伸张正义，证据将最终提交给某个司法当局。因此，他开始游说盟国支持设立一个国际法庭，未来可以提起诉讼。
The choice of an international tribunal is a sound one. A similar kind of tribunal has successfully prosecuted war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. But the creation of such a court would need to be authorised by the UN Security Council resolution; and President Vladimir Putin last week told Mr Rutte that setting one up would be “premature and counter productive” — indicating that Moscow would almost certainly use its veto to block it.
设立国际法庭是个不错的选择。类似的国际法庭曾成功对前南斯拉夫的战争罪行提起诉讼。但设立这类法庭需要得到联合国安理会(UN Security Council)决议的批准；俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔渠京(Vladimir Putin)上周告诉吕特，设立国际法庭“时机还不成熟，会带来反效果”，这表明，俄罗斯几乎肯定会动用其否决权封杀这一提议。
The Netherlands and its allies on the Security Council should press ahead with a vote on the matter all the same. If Moscow were to exercise its veto, it would be seen to be the main obstacle to justice after the mass killing of 298 innocent civilians. That would allow the Netherlands to press for specific economic sanctions beyond those that have already been imposed by the US and EU after Russia’s annexation of Crimea and activities in eastern Ukraine.
尽管如此，荷兰及其在联合国安理会的盟国应推动就此事进行投票。如果俄罗斯动用否决权，该国将被视为在298名无辜平民丧生后阻碍正义伸张的主要障碍。这将允许荷兰要求对俄罗斯实施“特别”经济制裁，不同于俄罗斯吞并克里米亚并在乌克兰东部展开支持叛军的活动后，美国和欧盟(EU)已对俄罗斯实施的那些经济制裁。
Even if the idea is scuppered at the Security Council, the west should also try to pursue the matter by other means. An international tribunal can be set up by a vote at the UN General Assembly as happened with the Khmer Rouge tribunal in Cambodia established in 1997; or the Dutch government and others could take the case to the International Court of Justice, a UN court in The Hague. The ICJ cannot mount a prosecution. But it can order a state to pay damages, as it did when the US agreed to pay $131.8m after shooting down an Iranian airliner over the Persian Gulf in 1988.
即便这种想法在联合国安理会化为泡影，西方还应设法通过其他方式寻求这一想法的实现。西方国家可以通过联合国大会(UN General Assembly)投票设立国际法庭，就像1997年提议在柬埔寨对红色高棉(Khmer Rouge)设立国际法庭那样；或者荷兰政府和其他国家可以将此案交由联合国在海牙设立的国际法院(International Court of Justice)审理。国际法院只有在当事国一致同意将争端提交至该院后才能做出裁决。但它可以命令一国赔偿损失，就像美国1988年在波斯湾上空击落一架伊朗客机后同意支付1.318亿美元赔偿金那样。
The pursuit of justice for the victims of MH17 will be long and hard. What is vital is that the international community does not give up on it. In the years ahead, some government will be tempted to negotiate with the Putin regime for economic and political reasons. But there can be no compromise when it comes to such a dreadful act of mass killing.
为MH17航班受害者讨回公道的过程将是漫长且艰难的。关键是国际社会不能放弃。未来几年，一些政府会出于经济和政治原因忍不住与普京政权谈判。但面对这么可怕的大规模杀戮行为，不能做出任何妥协。
