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No politics in pilots' case - Tajik prosecutor

Tajikistan Materials 10 November 2011 15:42 (UTC +04:00)
There is no politics in the case against the pilots of the Russian company, Tajikistan's Prosecutor General Sherkhon Salimzoda told an urgent news conference, in comments on the verdict for two pilots of the Russian airline - Russian citizen Vladimir Sadovnichy and Estonian citizen Alexei Rudenko
No politics in pilots' case - Tajik prosecutor

There is no politics in the case against the pilots of the Russian company, Tajikistan's Prosecutor General Sherkhon Salimzoda told an urgent news conference, in comments on the verdict for two pilots of the Russian airline - Russian citizen Vladimir Sadovnichy and Estonian citizen Alexei Rudenko, Itar-Tass reported.

On November 8, the court in the town of Kurgan-Tyube sentenced the pilots to 10.5 years in a maximum security penitentiary. The term will be reduced by two years, in accordance with the amnesty announced by the president.

Speaking at the news conference, the prosecutor general said preliminary investigation materials had proven the defendants' guilt under three articles of Tajikistan's Criminal Code: violation of state border, contraband, and violation of regulations for international flights. Also, Salimzoda accused the mass media or "wrongful interpretation of the situation around "a common criminal case."

According to him, the trial of the pilots was "open, transparent and free."

"The aircraft piloted by the crew commanders Vladimir Sadovnichy and Alexei Rudenko (An-72) landed in our territory without permission of the republic's aviation authorities and other services. These aircraft were not registered in any state, had no operating life left, had not undergone maintenance and had not been repaired for three years. In such a situation, the Tajik aviation authorities "made the only correct decision."

As is known, a majority of terrorists which engaged in terrorist activity in the territory of the Rasht district, eastern Tajikistan, or elsewhere in the republic, sneaked into Tajiksitan from Afghanistan.

The prosecutor general did not answer a single question of reporters or representatives of the Russian diplomatic mission. For example, he evaded the question from Russian consul general in Tajikistan Igor Labuzov who asked him "why was the consulate general informed about the incident only on May 31, 2011, if the pilots were detained by Tajik secret services
back in March."

Sherkhon Salimzoda called it "details." Answering the question about the possibility to hand over the convicted pilots to the Russian and Estonian authorities, the prosecutor general noted that the issue was not within his competence and that it would be resolved within the framework of the Vienna Convention.

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