Perth father who lost children on flight MH17 blasts Trump over Putin

THE Perth parents of three children who died when flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine have condemned US President Donald Trump for his refusal to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin to account over the tragedy.

It came after Mr Trump met with Mr Putin in Helsinki on Monday, with the US President taking his Russian counterpart’s word his country did not meddle in the 2016 election.

In a scathing post on his Facebook page on Tuesday, Anthony Maslin challenged Mr Trump on the “irrefutable facts” surrounding the shooting down of the Malaysia Airlines plane by a Russian missile in 2014. His partner Lin Norris described both leaders as “bullies”.

Their children Mo, Evie and Otis and Ms Norris’s father died when the plane went down, killed 298 people, including 38 Australians.

“Mr Trump, you invented and speak a lot about ‘fake news’. But let’s try talking about something that’s not fake … let’s call them irrefutable facts,” Mr Maslin said in his post.

“That passenger flight MH17 was shot out of the sky and 298 innocent people were murdered is an irrefutable fact.

“That the plane was hit by a Russian missile has been proven to be an irrefutable fact.

“That this killed our three beautiful children and their grandfather, and destroyed our life and many other lives in the process, is an irrefutable fact.

“That the man whose arse you’ve just been kissing did this, and continues to lie about it, is an irrefutable fact.

“It’s not anger that I feel towards the two of you, its something much, much worse. It’s pity.

“You have no empathy for your fellow man, and you clearly have no idea what love is. So you have nothing.”

Ms Norris spoke of “the shattering and wrenching apart” of her life, her family and her soul since the incident.

“As a couple of bullies try to out-bully each other…I write…

“I’ll write of the visible and the invisible – the bruise coloured flower of mother-love – I’ll write of being broken and putting the pieces of myself back together again – and resilience – and strength.”

Ms Norris wrote she still will be “rendered immobile by loss and horror” when she remembers experiences from the past and re-lives the trauma.

“The trauma of a loss so cataclysmic that it singled us out of all Australians, and made us different.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop says Australia will continue to seek justice for the MH17 victims.

She plans to raise the issue next week when she meets with the UK’s new Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

“Australia values the UK’s strong support, including in the UN Security Council, in calling on Russia to answer for its actions in relation to the tragedy,” she said this week.

“Holding Russia responsible for its role in the downing of MH17 is vital.”

The flight was on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when pro-Russian rebels fighting Ukrainians brought it down near Donetsk on July 17, 2014, using Russian weaponry.