The US has given important evidence to the investigators of the Malaysian Boeing 777 flight MH17 which was shot down over the Donetsk province in 2014, as stated by Dutch Chief Prosecutor Fred Westerbeke, who heads the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on the MH17 case, in an interview for Novaya Gazeta.

According to Westerbeke, the investigation group has gained access to photographs of the area taken by American satellites.

“Yes, we do have them. A colleague in my office who has access to reconnaissance materials marked “top secret” and “state secret”, saw and investigated the satellite data which the US has,” Westerbeke explained.

He added that the US has also given the investigators its own report, which has been used in the investigation.

“I assure you, it’s not always possible to see everything, even with the help of US satellites. Especially since that day was cloudy, as you will recall. I can’t say what was in the photographs, because they were seen by my authorized colleague who has access to the data. He saw the Americans’ report, with their conclusion, and this information has also been used by us in the investigation,” Westerbeke said.

He also noted that the investigation has no doubt that a Russian “Buk” anti-air missile system was responsible for the destruction of the Malaysian Boeing 777.

“There’s no point looking for other Buks which may have been able to destroy the plane, if we already know which Buk fired and from where. Answers to these questions were already given in 2015 in the Dutch Safety Board’s report, which was assisted by experts from more than ten countries, and even Russians, by the way. For our part, we at the JIT have established that the Buk came from Russia. We have no doubt whatsoever of our conclusions, which are based on absolute objectivity,” Westerbeke commented.

“In a presentation in 2016 we already explained that the Ukrainian station which was supposed to monitor the trajectories of flights in that area was out of order, and another station was being repaired. We checked this information, and found a lot of proof for it: the stations were really being serviced. Later we were able to find another radar in roughly the same area. We took data from it, and it was also the basis of our conclusions and featured in the report. But I still want to say that too much attention is given to various radars, when there is a lot of other evidence. There are people who saw with their own eyes what happened. Living people saw this Buk! There is a video of it moving into Snizhne! And I want to exclaim: Hasn’t there already been enough talk about radars? There’s no longer any need for this! We have more than enough evidence of what happened,” the Dutch Chief Prosecutor observed.

“Picture the situation: you have witnesses who saw the moment of the crime – how one person shot another. And you already have video recordings and photographs of how the perpetrator bought the weapon. And he even discussed all of this on the phone. You already have all the evidence. What point is there in looking for and investigating other weapons in the city, and asking where the radar data is?” Westerbeke remarked.

  MH17, USA, Ukraine

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