QURGHON TEPPA, November 8, 2011, Asia-Plus — Two pilots working for Rolkan Investments Limited have been sentenced to 10 ½ each and they will serve their terms in a high-security penal colony.
The Qurghon Teppa city court sentenced Captain Vladimir Sadovnichiy (national of Russia) and Captain Aleksey Rudenko (national of Estonia), working for Rolkan Investments Limited, to 10 ½ years in prison each on November 8. The sentence followed their conviction on charges of violation of international air carriage rules, smuggling and illegal border crossing. The court also ruled that they will serve their terms in a high-security penal colony. Both aircraft and the contraband aircraft engine were confiscated.
The trial of Captain Vladimir Sadovnichiy and Captain Aleksey Rudenko, working for Rolkan Investments Limited, which is domiciled in the British Virgin Islands, began on October 12.
On October 24, a prosecutor in the trial Sadovnichiy ad Rudenko asked the court to sentence the pilots to 13-year prison term each and confiscate both aircraft.
Meanwhile, the pilots maintain their innocence. Captain Sadovnichiy told their trial they are not guilty of the charges against them and asked that they be released. According to him, the Tajik authorities investigated the incident in accordance with Tajikistan’s aviation code. “Tajik civil aviation authorities have found nothing illegal in our actions. After landing, Tajik customs authorities checked the aircraft and found nothing illegal on board. Aircraft engine and other things that were on the board are property of the company [Rolkan Investments Limited]. They were used for maintaining the aircraft themselves and they are not a commercial cargo.”
We will recall that 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 Antonov An-72 (NATO reporting name ”Coaler”) is a transport aircraft developed by Antonov in the former Soviet Union. It was designed as a STOL (short take-off and landing) transport and intended as a replacement for the Antonov An-26, but variants have found success as commercial freighters.
