Prosecutor: GermanWings Co-Pilot ‘Deliberately’ Destroyed the Plane

ROBIN (through interpreter): “Today, it's 12:30 and it’s been more or less forty-eight hours after this crash so I’d like to insist that our interpretation as of now is the investigators who are speaking of the man who controls this region [indecipherable], as well as the director of the investigation. 

Jointly, the most plausible investigation is that the copilot based on some kind of voluntary abstention — again this was voluntary, this was deliberate -- refused to open the cabin door in order to let the pilot back in. I’ll repeat, he refused to let the pilot back in. So he is the one who presse the button that allowed the plane to begin descending and lose altitude. 

So I’ll remind you that in the last eight minutes of this flight — the flight was, you know, 30,000 feet in the air 10 to 12 meters in the air to 500 meters. So again, he pressed the button for a reason that we cannot seem to understand, but we would like to analyze it by some kind of deliberate action and willingness to destroy this plane. 

So that is all I can say for now. We’ve asked for more information from judiciary authorities in Germany on personal background and family background of this copilot he is again of German nationality. He’s a German citizen.”