"They were very intelligent," Paul Guard says of his parents.
"My father was a pathologist, he worked at the hospital. My mum was a retired GP and worked for community organisations, they were both very loving people ... they were great parents to us. We miss them very much."
Roger and Jill Guard, highly respected medical professionals from Toowoomba in Queensland's Darling Downs, were among the 38 Australians who were killed when Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by a Russian missile while flying over eastern Ukraine in July 2014.
Wreckage of the Boeing 777 fell into fields surrounding the village of Hrabove, in territory held by pro-Russian separatists who were fighting Ukrainian government forces. All 283 passengers and 15 crew onboard the Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur flight died.
Paul has spent the years since seeking answers, patiently waiting for someone to claim responsibility for the tragedy that left a hole in his family.
Paul Guard as a child with his sister Amanda and their father Roger. Source: Supplied/Paul Guard
But he has always wanted the focus to remain on the region's conflict.
"I still blame the conflict for the incident," he told SBS News. "I don't believe anyone intended to bring down a passenger plane, therefore really in my mind, it could've been anyone involved in that conflict that was responsible."
"Ideally, the people responsible would have admitted their responsibility and that would've made it easier for families."
"I think most families would really like an open and honest acknowledgment of responsibility from those who actually brought the passenger plane down, an acknowledgment that it wasn't intentional."
Trial to begin
In May 2018, an international team of investigators, including representatives from Australia, concluded the Russian military had played a key role in providing arms to separatists in the region.
Almost two years on, an Amsterdam court will now examine the evidence as four suspects the Dutch authorities say are responsible go on trial from Monday.
The four men are Russians Sergey Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and Igor Girkin, and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko.
The group all held senior positions in the pro-Russian militias when MH17 was shot down.
Wilbert Paulissen of the Joint Investigation Team names the four people on trial. Source: ANP
The Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team has said that while the group did not deploy the missile themselves, they are accused of colluding to carry out the attack.
They also face preliminary allegations of obtaining a missile launcher with the intent to bring down an aircraft.
The defendants remain at large and are not expected to show up for the hearings at a high-security courtroom near Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.
If they do not appear on Monday or fail to send lawyers, the judges could rule that the trial be held in absentia.
Paul believes Russia must answer serious questions so that families of those lost can reach full closure.
Jill Guard with her granddaughter Ella. Source: Supplied/Paul Guard
"Some people who are [on trial are] quite senior in the separatist organisations and the military hierarchy," he said.
"I see the trial as a prosecution of Russia's involvement in the war and the separatists involved in starting the war. The war itself has made life miserable for everyone in the area.
"If anything good comes out of the trial it will be to try to make people think before getting involved in this sort of conflict and causing such misery for such a lot of people."
Russia has consistently denied any involvement and has rejected suggestions it has offered financial or military support to pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin would wait to see how the trial panned out before weighing in further, maintaining Russia has always had doubts about the objectivity of the Dutch-led investigation.
'Find a lasting solution'
As the world's attention returns to the MH17 tragedy, Paul is hoping for peace in the region where his parents had their lives taken from them.
"I really put the blame of the incident on the conflict overall and I prefer that the time and energy is spent on trying to find a lasting solution to that conflict," he said.
"I don't think anything will be solved by the trial, it will certainly put more spotlight on who was responsible. I'd just like to see this sort of thing never happen again.
"Clearly, we've got a long way to go there with the shooting down of the Ukrainian jet in Iran earlier this year."
In January, a Ukraine International Airlines flight bound for Kiev was shot down shortly after taking off from Tehran's International Airport.
Roger (far left) and Jill Guard (second right) at their son Paul's wedding in 2013. Source: Supplied/Paul Guard
All 176 passengers and crew were killed with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claiming responsibility and conceding the incident occurred due to human error.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani described the matter as an "unforgivable mistake".
Paul says those responsible for shooting down commercial airliners must reflect on the grief and terror inflicted.
"These things, whether they be wars or just aggressive rhetoric ... that makes everywhere unsafe for people in planes."
"As long as that goes on then we haven't really solved the problem that caused MH17."
