Bellingcat has attacked defense attorneys and smeared witnesses in the trial over the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Is it being used by Western intelligence services to steer the case in a particular direction?

(This report was originally published at Eric van de Beek’s personal website.)

For six years the British website Bellingcat has promoted Ukraine’s narrative that Russia shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17). With the start of the MH17 trial in March 2020, the self-proclaimed “collective of researchers, investigators and citizen journalists” assumed a new role: The US government-funded website began ridiculing the defense attorneys and attempting to discredit witnesses.

Could it be that Bellingcat is being used by Western intelligence services to steer the MH17 trial in a particular direction? And who is Black Mirror, the outlet’s mysterious “partner in crime?”

In March 2020, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) opened criminal proceedings against suspects in the downing of MH17. The Malaysian Boeing crashed on July 17, 2014, in the eastern region of Ukraine where a civil war was raging at the time, and where 16 planes of Ukraine’s air force had already been taken down by separatists.

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