Dutch Court Declines Defense Request To Ask NATO To Provide Satellite Data For MH17 Probe

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd July, 2020) The Dutch court has declined the request of the defense in the MH17 crash case to ask NATO once again to provide satellite data gathered by surveillance aircraft AWACS, Presiding Judge Hendrik Steenhuis said on Friday.

"The description in the file by the national public prosecution to answer the question whether NATO has further information gathered by AWAC aircraft ... This report, in combination with the answer given to the same question .... to NATO, says the data of the AWACS aircraft did not yield any relevant data for the investigation into the crash of Flight MH17, and it leads to the conclusion that such data are not available. It can be therefore reasonably ruled out that a new request could lead to a different conclusion.

So, this request is rejected," Steenhuis said.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crashed on July 17, 2014, in eastern Ukraine on its way to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam. All 298 people aboard died. The accident was investigated by Dutch prosecutors and the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT).

Russia, which conducted its own investigation after being denied access to the JIT's probe, said it had given the Dutch team evidence, such as radar data, proving the plane was shot down by a Ukrainian Buk missile. Dutch prosecutor Ward Ferdinandusse said the Russian evidence had been taken into account during the investigation.