QURGHON TEPPA, November 22, 2011, Asia-Plus — The Khatlon regional court is reviewing the case of two pilots of Rolkan Investment Ltd today.
A prosecutor in the trial of the pilots is asking for the minimum jail terms for the pilots – 2 years, six months and fourteen days for each of them.
He noted that the sentences, in accordance with a recent Tajik amnesty, would be immediately reduced by two years to six months and fourteen days. Taking into account that the pilots have already spent more than six months in prison, the prosecutor asked for the release of them in courtroom.
Tajikistan is reviewing the sentence as the pilots’ defense lawyer referred to the court of appeals on November 11 and the Khatlon prosecutor’s officially challenged the Qurghon Teppa city court’s verdict on November 15, calling for the sentence to be reduced.
We will recall that the Qurghon Teppa city court sentenced Captain Vladimir Sadovnichiy (Russian national) and Captain Aleksey Rudenko (citizen of Estonia) working for Rolkan Investment Ltd, a private company domiciled in the British Virgin Islands, to 8 1/2 years in prison each on November 8. The sentence followed their conviction on charges of smuggling, illegally crossing the border, and violating international aviation regulations.
The pilots were arrested on March 12, when the An-72 cargo planes they were piloting landed at the Qurghon Teppa airport for unscheduled refueling en route to Russia from Afghanistan. The cargo of one of the planes included a disassembled aircraft engine that was not listed on the customs declaration. Both of the planes, owned by Rolkan Investment Ltd, were confiscated by Tajik authorities.
On November 14, Tajikistan”s Prosecutor General Sherkhon Salimzoda produced a written request from Afghanistan”s Transport Ministry to detain the two planes because they left Afghanistan illegally and did not have proper documents.
According to him, the two pilots ignored warnings from Tajikistan”s air traffic controllers and entered Tajik airspace illegally. Salimzoda said Sadovnichiy asked Tajik air traffic controllers seven times for permission to enter Tajikistan”s airspace and was refused every time. He said Sadovnichiy then asked for permission for an emergency landing, even at the risk the planes would be impounded.
Salimzoda said that before the two planes took off, Afghan government officials informed Tajikistan that they had false registration numbers and were not registered in any country. They also did not have log books or air safety certificates.
Tajik chief prosecutor said the investigation established that the two aircraft were removed in 2008 from the list of aircraft registered in Georgia and since then have been based in Afghanistan. He said that according to Afghan aviation authorities, the planes have not been inspected for the past three years and are no longer licensed to fly.
Salimzoda prosecutor also noted that if the lawyer of two sentenced pilots appeals the verdict, the case could be retried in a higher court.
Russian Foreign Ministry officials slammed the sentences as politically motivated, and in an apparent retaliatory move, Russia”s immigration police began arresting and deporting Tajik migrant workers.
