MH17 criminal investigation drags on; Missile evidence presented by July

The international judiciary team working on the MH17 criminal investigation is currently investigating remains of the missile that shot down the plane and expects to have evidence about the type of missile and where it was fired from "before the second half of the year", Chief Prosecutor, Fred Westerbeke wrote in a letter to the victims' relatives, RTL Nieuws reports.

Westerbeke writes that there is no video footage of the missile launch. There is also no satellite images due to the cloud cover on the day of the disaster. The Public Prosecutor does, however, have radar data showing whether there was other air traffic at the time of the disaster.

The letter further answers the questions surrounding radar images of the disaster. According to Westerbeke, the Ukraine does not have any radar images. The United States made their data available through secret service MIVD, and the prosecutor will be able to use it as evidence if necessary. Russia has not supplied the requested radar images, the Public Prosecutor is discussing it with Moscow. The Prosecutor does not believe that those images are vitally important, stating that tere are many more sources for evidence - tapped telephone conversations, footage, witness statements and 5 billion websites.

According to Westerbeke, the investigators have an eye on "a large group of people" who may be responsible for the attack. Only once their role in the attack is clear, and depending on where they are, will a decision be made on the most promising form of prosecution. He warns the survivors that the investigation and prosecution can still take a very long time, referring to the Lockerbie crash which took three years before arrest warrants were issued.