Malaysia wants a tribunal for Malaysia Airlines crash

New York - Malaysia has told the UN Security Council that it plans to submit a resolution that would establish an international tribunal to prosecute those responsible for shooting down a Malaysia Airlines plane over Ukraine last year.

New Zealand's UN Ambassador Gerard van Bohemen, the current council president, told reporters after Thursday's closed council meeting that Malaysia and the four other countries investigating the crash are seeking "criminal accountability" for the downing of flight MH17.

The flight heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur went down July 17 over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

Controversy continues over who downed the plane. Ukraine and the West suspect it was destroyed by a Russian surface-to-air missile fired by Russian soldiers or Russia-backed separatist rebels fighting in the area. Moscow denies that.