Today at 13:23
Photo from Ukrinform-UATV
The National Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Netherlands has sent a letter to the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine calling a former member of the Russian-backed military units in Donbas, detained by the Ukrainian law enforcement, Volodymyr Tsemakh, a suspect in the investigation of the downing of flight MH17.
This was reported by theBabel media outlet with reference to a screenshot of the letter, sent on August 30, 2019 to the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine.
According to the letter, it is “extremely important” to keep the detainee available for questioning by the Joint Investigative Group.
The article states that Tsemakh is among the persons on the list of the upcoming prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia, and assumes that the mentioned quote in the letter regards the case of extradition to Russia, which will not allow investigators to communicate with the suspect.
Bellingcat’s investigative publication calls Tsemakh “an important eyewitness to the events,” (related to the downing of flight MH17). According to them, the actual role of Tsemakh in the downing remains not fully clear. However, most probably, as appears from video recordings of his own testimony, Tsemakh was involved in the process of hiding the Buk missile system shortly after the missile was launched. Later, Tsemakh said in an interview with one Ukrainian outlet that those words on the recordings were “cut out of context.”
Tsemakh was captured by Ukrainian special forces at the end of June 2019 from the occupied town of Snizhne and taken into custody under the accusations of terrorism. His testimony in court could play a key role in the investigation.
