PHOTO COULD REVEAL WHO SHOT DOWN FLIGHT MH17
INVESTIGATORS have released a new photo of what they say is the missile launcher believed responsible for the downing of flight MH17 more than three years ago.
The Joint Investigation Team yesterday released an image of what they said was a Buk-Telar launcher thought to have fired the missile which brought the plane down over eastern Ukraine with the loss of 298 lives.
“This picture was probably taken on July 17, 2014, in the town of Makeevka, Ukraine. The JIT presumes that the picture contains the BUKTelar which is responsible for downing flight MH17,” the JIT tweeted.
“The JIT requests anyone who has any kind of information about the picture, the vehicles on it and the location where the picture was taken to contact the JIT.”
It said investigators would talk to potential witnesses in languages including Russian or Ukrainian and would protect their identity.
The release of the photo comes as the officer leading the Australian Federal Police investigation, Superintendent David Nelson, said he was confident charges would be brought against those who shot the plane down, despite three years passing without a single person being extradited or charges laid.
“I’m confident that we will (lay charges),’’ Supt Nelson told News Corp. “Now the real focus is on the who.’’
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was travelling between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur when it was brought down with a Russian-manufactured surface-to-air missile as it flew over Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing everyone on board including 38 Australian citizens or residents.
Three years on, 10 AFP officers – six in the Netherlands and four in Ukraine – remain assigned to the international investigation full-time, as Dutch prosecutors edge towards bringing charges against some of the 100 “persons of interest’’ in the case.
Charges of murder and bringing down an aircraft are being prepared by the Joint Investigation Team, comprising five affected countries including Australia. SPAIN’S central government says it will suspend Catalonia’s autonomy and impose direct rule after the region’s leader threatened to go ahead with a formal declaration of independence if Madrid refused to hold talks.
In an act unprecedented since Spain returned to democracy in the late 1970s, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said he would hold a special cabinet meeting today that could trigger the move.
The Socialist opposition said it backed the government but suggested the measures should be limited in scope and time. Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, ignoring a 10am deadline to drop his secession campaign, wrote a letter to Rajoy threatening a formal declaration of independence.
The war of words increased uncertainty over a stand-off that has raised fears of social unrest, cut growth prospects for the euro zone’s fourth-largest economy and rattled the euro.
“If the government continues to impede dialogue and continues with the repression, the Catalan parliament could proceed, if it is considered opportune, to vote on a formal declaration of independence,” Puigdemont said.
Catalonia, which has a distinctive culture and language, triggered Spain’s biggest political crisis for decades with a secession bid it put to a referendum on October 1.
Only 43 per cent of voters participated but those who did voted overwhelmingly to secede, while opponents of secession mostly stayed home. Spanish courts have ruled the referendum illegal.