Two years to the day after the deadly Germanwings crash in the French Alps, the father of co-pilot Andreas Lubitz spoke out today to dispute official findings that his son deliberately downed the plane.
Both the message and the timing of the first public appearance by a member of Lubitz's close family since the 2015 disaster that claimed 150 lives were criticised by victims' families, who held their own sombre events to mark the tragedy.
German prosecutors in January closed their investigation after determining that Lubitz, 27, was suicidal and bore sole responsibility for the catastrophe, following similar conclusions from a French probe.
The co-pilot's father, 63-year-old Guenter Lubitz, called a press conference in Berlin to challenge those findings alongside a journalist he hired, Tim van Beveren, whom he called "an internationally recognised aerospace expert".
Lubitz senior argued that the image of the suicidal loner or cold-blooded killer did not correspond with the son he knew, and called for a new investigation into the cause of the crash.
"We have to live with the fact that we not only lost our son, but also that it was concluded two days after the fact that he was a depressed mass murderer," Lubitz, who bears a striking physical resemblance to his son, told the packed hotel conference room.
"I would like to stress that we experienced our son in the six years before the crash as someone who said yes to life. Our son was not depressed at the time of the crash."
Mourners in the western German town of Haltern am See, which lost 16 students and two teachers who were returning from an exchange programme in Spain, expressed outrage as the school held a commemorative ceremony.
Its principal, Ulrich Wessel, told DPA news agency the press conference had been a "provocation" and "an affront to the parents" of the dead schoolchildren and said Lubitz senior appeared to have "lost touch with reality".
Meanwhile a spokesman for the German transport ministry told reporters there were "no grounds to doubt the results" of the official investigations.
Lubitz, wearing a black suit and a black necktie, defended his decision to speak out on the anniversary, saying it had ensured that his viewpoint would be heard.
"Just like all the other families, we are looking for the truth," he said, fighting back tears. But he added that his suffering was unique because of his son's role in the disaster.
"I say this with great caution because it can easily be misunderstood, my grief is different. It is special.
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