DER SPIEGEL INTERVIEW WITH DUTCH MH17 PROSECUTOR WESTERBEKE
MH17-Chefermittler Westerbeke: "Wissen die Russen womöglich mehr?"
Wer schoss Flug MH17 über der Ostukraine ab? Der niederländische Staatsanwalt Fred Westerbeke leitet die internationalen Ermittlungen. Er spricht über geheime Satellitenbilder und eine mögliche Beteiligung des ukrainischen Militärs.
Der Spiegel interviews Chief Prosecutor Westerbeke:
http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/just...eber-den-absturz-in-der-ukraine-a-999193.html
Translation:
SPIEGEL ONLINE:
Mr. Westerbeke, your job as chief prosecutor sounds hardly solvable: MH17 flight was shot down over a civil war zone, even now, three months later, your crime scene is not accessible for investigators. What gives you hope to be able to bring someone to court someday?
Westerbeke: The Netherlands does not investigate the case all alone. There is a very good cooperation with police and prosecutors, especially in Malaysia, Australia and the Ukraine. BTW, we have been able to gain a lot of experience with similar cases, in connection with the genocide in Rwanda, for example, or with war crimes in Afghanistan. Also in those cases you will find hardly any witnesses, no written documents that could be used as evidence.
So as to your question: It is not easy. But we can do it.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: In what period of time?
Westerbeke: Look at Lockerbie ...
SPIEGEL ONLINE: ... the bombing of a Pan Am jumbo in December 1988 with 270 deaths.
Westerbeke: At that time, it took three years before one could name those responsible. I do not mean that it will take such a long time as well in the case of flight MH17, but it requires a long breath.
We will certainly need the whole of next year for our work, and perhaps even longer.
SPIEGEL ONLINE:
The Federal Intelligence Service BND assumes that pro-Russian separatists have shot down the machine with a surface to air missile. Recently some German parliamentarians were shown corresponding satellite images. Do you know these recordings?
Westerbeke:
Unfortunately, we do not know what images this involved concretely. The problem is that there are very many different satellite images: Some of them can be found on the Internet, others come from foreign intelligence agencies.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: High-resolution images, for example from US spy satellites could play a crucial role in the investigation of the case. Did you get those recordings from the Americans?
Westerbeke: We are not sure if we already have everything, or whether there are more - material that may be even more specific. What we possess at present is certainly not enough to draw any conclusions. We remain in contact with the United States to get satellite images.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: The downing of flight MH17 is the biggest criminal case in the history of your country, it is said. How many investigators are currently working on this case?
Westerbeke: In The Netherlands alone there are ten prosecutors. Three of them coordinate the investigation, two work at the international level. Two more are responsible for the care of relatives. In addition, there are forensic experts, also around 80 policemen. There are regular meetings with colleagues from Malaysia, Australia and the Ukraine, to share the work.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Because at the crash site fights are going on again and again, so far none of your investigators has been able to go on site, in order to collect debris. That might be important solely to determine the weapon system used. On which traces you rely instead?
Westerbeke:
There are the metal fragments that were found in the bodies of the dead and in pieces of luggage. This could be shrapnel from a BUK missile, possibly also parts of the aircraft itself. We analyze this, so far there are no results. We also have some witnesses who were on the spot immediately after the crash. In the Internet we shift through an immense amount of information, we also have various recordings of telephone conversations at our disposal, that were recorded by the Ukrainian police. Some of it is already available online, but we have gotten richer material.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: So far, there is no indisputable evidence?
Westerbeke:
Yes. If you look in the newspapers, however, it always looks as if quite clear what happened to the aircraft and who is to blame. But if we really want to bring the perpetrators to justice, we need evidence and more than a recorded phone call from the internet or photos of the crash site. That's why we not only take one scenario into consideration, but several.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: What are the scenarios?
Westerbeke: Initially we have taken into consdideration four possible explanations for the crash of Flight MH17: An accident, a terrorist attack, the shooting down by a surface to air missile or an attack by another aircraft. After the publication of the interim report by the Dutch Security OVV ...
SPIEGEL ONLINE: ... where the crash is attributed to a variety of fast flying objects that have punctured the outside of the machine ...
Westerbeke: ... the accident and the terror scenario were dropped. The other two remain.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Moscow circulated for some time, the version, the passenger plane had been shot down by a Ukrainian fighter jet. Do you think it possible?
Westerbeke:
Based on the available information, the shooting by a ground-to-air missile is in my eyes still the most likely scenario. But we do not close our eyes to the possibility that it might have been different.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: In the OVV report it is stated that no military jets were in the vicinity.
Westerbeke: Right. But this statement is based on information that was available at the time to the OVV.
The question is: Do the Russians know possibly more?
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Your Prime Minister Mark Rutte has recently criticized Vladimir Putin because of his lack of support in the MH17 case. What is the role of Russia in the investigation?
Westerbeke:
At the moment, not large, since Russia is not part of the investigation team. We are preparing a request for assistance, in which we ask Moscow for information that could be important for us. Among other things, those radar data with which the Russians wanted to prove the presence of a Ukrainian military jet near MH17 after the crash.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: If you actually take into consideration the participation of the Ukrainian Air Force in the shooting of flight MH17 - is it not absurd that Ukraine is involved in the investigation?
Westerbeke: Of course that's a problem. But we cannot investigate without them. I want to make one thing very clear: We have no indications to suggest that Kiev might not be acting completely open with us. They give us all the information that we want.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: In the eastern Ukraine, the winter is coming. Is there any chance that your investigators will make it to the crash site this year?
Westerbeke: At the moment I do not really believe in it.
It is there still very dangerous. Therefore, we are working with the OVV on a plan B - if we can not get to the crash site itself, we need the debris brought here by other means.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Assuming that the trial actually takes place one day - where would that be?
Westerbeke: With a possible trial we are not dealing yet. We first want to devote all our energies to finding those responsible for this crime. If The Netherlands were asked, we would certainly be ready to take the suspects to trial here.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Persons unknown have offered a $ 30 million bounty in the case MH17 through a German private investigator. Will you also offer a reward?
Westerbeke: This is being done more often in complicated cases. But currently we have no intention to do so and it will certainly never go up to 30 million. Incidentally, I caution anyone from making transactions with these people: No one knows who they are and what intentions they pursue.
About the person:
Fred Westerbeke, born in 1962, directs at the Dutch public prosecutor, the Department for investigations into terrorism and organized crime at home and abroad. In the case of MH17 he coordinates the criminal prosecution. As part of a joint investigation Commission (JIT) Malaysia, Australia and the Ukraine are also involved in this.
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