DUSHANBE, October 28, 2011, Asia-Plus – Representatives of Estonia’s Foreign Ministry yesterday got in touch with their colleagues from Tajikistan to discuss the arrest of Estonian citizen in Tajikistan, some media outlets report, referring to Estonian MFA.
Besides, Estonia has reportedly applied to the German Embassy in Dushanbe asking to send diplomat for meeting with the detained Estonian national as soon as possible.
Relatives of the detainee applied to Estonian MFA on October 26.
In case of necessity, Estonian MFA is ready to send to Dushanbe representative of Estonia’s Embassy in Kazakhstan.
We will recall that Aleksey Rudenko (national of Estonia) is being tried along with Captain Vladimir Sadovnichiy (national of Russia) in a court in the city of Qurghon Teppa, the capital of Khatlon province.
Both pilots are working for Rolkan Investments Limited, which is domiciled in the British Virgin Islands. The company is reportedly engaged in transporting humanitarian cargo to Afghanistan.
In March this year, two transport aircraft An-72 belonging to Rolkan Investments Limited illegally crossed the national border of Tajikistan from Afghanistan without permission of Tajik air navigation service and landed at the Qurghon Teppa airport. The State Committee for National Security (SCNS)’s office in Khatlon has assessed that crossing of border illegal and instituted criminal proceedings against Captain Sadovnichiy and Captain Rudenko.
Prosecutor Fayzullo Kholov noted that Sadovnichiy and Rudenko were allegedly working for Rolkan Investments Limited illegally. According to him, those two AN-72s worked in Afghanistan illegally from 2008 till detention because they are not registered in any state. “They were transporting a contraband aircraft engine,” the prosecutor said.
The pilots are charged with violation of rules of international flights (Article 218 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code), smuggling (Article 289) and illegal border crossing (Article 335).
Their trial began on October 12 and a prosecutor in the trial asked the court on October 24 to sentence the pilots to 13-year prison term each and confiscate both aircraft.
