Factual incorrect statements by Dutch prosecutor on MH17 part 1

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Dutch Public Prosecution Service made a couple of factual incorrect statements in 2017 about the MH17 investigation. In a serie of posts I will report about these errors. None of the Western press paid any attention to these clear errors.

The first factual incorrect statement is about the format of radar data.

At January 27 2017 the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (Openbaar Ministerie) informed the next of kin that the investigation of the radar recordings supplied by Russia is complicated because the unusual format the data was handed over. Dutch Public Prosecution Service writes:

“Despite the fact that the Russian Federation is a member state of the Convention of International Civil Aviation and has acknowledged the aforementioned ICAO rules, the data supplied by the Russian Federation do not comply with these requirements.”

Mind the word requirements. I immediately knew the prosecutor was talking nonsense. I contacted the spokesman but he refused to answer questions.

The Russian press protested  saying ICAO does not have requirements on the format of radar data. For example this article by Sputnik titled “Russia Denies Dutch Claims Radar Data on MH17 Crash Violating Int’l Requirements”

Sputnik writes:

“There are no international requirements concerning such information and the way it is recorded,” Rosaviatsia Deputy Chief  Storchevoy said.

In a pressrelease of the Dutch Public Prosecution Service dated February 16, it more or less confirmed it stated nonsense to the next of kin.

In the pressrelease there is no word anymore about requirements. It does mention now that ASTERIX is a common data format for radar data. However there is no requirement to use it.

For the exchange of information air traffic control agencies often make use of the so called ASTERIX format, which has been developed by Eurocontrol. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) does not oblige the use of this format, but in a manual it does mention the ASTERIX format as a useful standard. The ASTERIX format is internationally accepted and is being used worldwide.

While the prosecutor in the message to the next of kin did not state ASTERIX as being required by  ICAO, it for sure meant to say this.

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