MH17: Russia doctored photographs, evidence to implicate rebels
All 298 passengers and crew onboard the Malaysia Airlines jetliner -- most of them Dutch -- died when it was shot down at high altitude over rebel-held eastern Ukraine in July last year.
Russia had digitally altered photographic evidence to implicate the rebels in downing of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) MH17 plane, claims independent analysis group, Bellingcat.
The online analysis group which had carried out worldwide forensic photo analysis, said they had studies satellite photos released by the Russian Ministry of Defense in an international press conference on July 21.
“The forensic analysis conducted by the Bellingcat investigation team clearly and undoubtedly demonstrates that the dates of the satellite photos have been falsified, and that the photographs were digitally modified using Adobe Photoshop CS5 software,” the report read.
All 298 passengers and crew onboard the Malaysia Airlines jetliner -- most of them Dutch -- died when it was shot down at high altitude over rebel-held eastern Ukraine in July last year.
A preliminary report by Dutch experts on the MH17 tragedy suggests that the Boeing 777-200 broke up in mid-air after being hit by “high-energy objects”.
The report, published by the Dutch Safety Board, said that there are no indications that the MH17 tragedy was caused by a technical fault, emergency or by actions of the crew.
According to the report, the cockpit voice recorder revealed no signs of any technical faults or an emergency situation.
"Our forensic analysis of all three images clearly and unequivocally shows that these images have been altered. In each of the pictures, significant image content has been digitally modified with a high level of probability," the report read.
The group also claimed that all three satellite images were shown to have been photographed before 17 July 2014.
"The MoD’s Picture 4 was taken sometime between 1 June 2014 and 18 June 2014 and the MoD’s Picture 5 and Picture 5 analytics were taken prior to 15 July 2014," the group said.
"Russian Ministry of Defense presented digitally modified and falsely dated satellite images to the international public in order to implicate the Ukrainian army in the downing of MH17," the group claimed.
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