“Recording negotiations can be done on the knee”
In the Netherlands, the trial in the case of the crash on board the Malaysian Airlines Boeing MH-17 in the Donbass in July 2014 continues. A number of experts around the world call the court “biased” and even “anti-Russian.”
According to the position of the Dutch state prosecution, the blame for the incident lies with Russia, which supplied Buk air defense systems to the conflict zone in the Donbass. Allegedly, one of them shot down the Malaysian side. The accused in the case are Russian citizens Igor Girkin (Strelkov), Sergey Dubinsky and Oleg Pulatov, as well as a citizen of Ukraine Leonid Kharchenko. In 2014, the accused took part in hostilities on the side of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. According to the investigation, it was they who organized or took part in the delivery of Buk anti-aircraft systems to the Donbass. Moreover, it was they who allegedly gave the order for a missile attack, the victim of which was an airliner with 298 people on board. However, serious evidence has not been provided to these arguments for all the years. The case actually crumbled.
However, after the break, caused by the pandemic of the coronavirus COVID-19, the Dutch prosecutor’s office got a new clue – an audio recording. This is a telephone conversation between the persons involved in the case who are discussing the details of the attack.
If this evidence is found to be genuine, the court may receive grounds for accusing Russia of delivering weapons to the conflict zone. However, so far the new evidence is only criticized by the defense of the accused and the expert community.
Lawyers do not exclude that before the publication of audio recordings could be mounted. Also, the defense notes that the voices on the tape sound too precise and accentuated, as if they were dictated by someone. Despite the objections of the defense, new evidence will be added to the case, indirectly confirming the version of the investigation on Russia’s guilt in the disaster. The defense intends to involve specialists in the study of audio recordings. However, even without a detailed assessment, the new investigative data raise a lot of questions from experts.
As we managed to find out MK, the audio recording of the alleged negotiations provided by the prosecutor in The Hague can be created and edited literally on the knee using a smartphone
“There is simply a ton of different programs for deep editing of voices and sounds,” Vyacheslav Yusefa, sound engineer and sound artist, graduate of the prestigious University of California at Berkeley, told MK. – Using them, in terms of sound and speech, you can create anything. And if you connect artificial intelligence and neural networks to help, you can create voices and sound environments indistinguishable from the original. But if we talk about films and audio recordings of telephone conversations, then generally simple tools are enough. Even a smartphone is enough to qualitatively edit the recording of negotiations. And even to tighten the timbres and tonality of the phrase so that they sound as natural and organic as possible.
The expert assures: with high-quality editing of an audio recording, even the most rigorous examination may not distinguish at all where the original is and where the fake sound. “Modern technology has allowed this for a long time,” he concluded.
However, it is important for the international investigation team and the prosecution to attach even indirect and insignificant evidence to the case. Thus, create obstacles for the possible inclusion of Russia in the investigation team of the causes of the disaster. As Dutch lawyer Sabine ten Dusshate previously stated, there are no legal obstacles to Russia’s participation in the international investigation team. And if the Russian side enters the investigative group, then it will not be possible to accuse her of anything. Therefore, according to experts, the investigation, which previously took an anti-Russian position, may go for the publication of fabricated materials for the sole purpose of excluding such participation of Russian specialists in the process.
Read also: Sudden Evidence Appears in Boeing MN-17 Crash
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