Three air traffic controllers at Moscow's Vnukovo airport, where the plane of Total CEO Christophe de Margerie crashed in 2014, were sentenced Thursday to terms of five to six years in detention by a Russian court.
Nadezhda Arkhipova, Alexander Krouglov and Roman Dunayev, who was their superior, were sentenced to five, five and a half years and six years respectively in open prison, announced the Moscow court in Solntsvesky.
A condemned woman amnestied
Nadezhda Arkhipova was immediately released from sentence under an amnesty decreed in 2015 in honor of the 70th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, the accident having taken place during a period covered by this measure.
The amnesty concerning only those sentenced to terms of five years imprisonment or less, Alexander Krouglov and Roman Dounaïev will go into detention, according to Russian news agencies.
In 2014, a snow plow on the track
On October 20, 2014, Total's number one was killed in the crash of his Falcon plane, which hit a snowplow on take-off, at Moscow's Vnukovo airport. The two pilots and an air hostess were also killed.
The three employees were accused of failing to react when the plow entered the runway and of failing to meet safety standards.
Towards an appeal trial
"We do not agree with this judgment (…), we are going to appeal," Roman Dounaïev's lawyer, Igor Tchernetsky, told AFP. Cited by Russian news agencies, lawyers for the other two defendants have indicated that they will also appeal.
The two main defendants in this case, who had pleaded guilty, were sentenced in July 2017 to three and four years in camp. They had benefited from the amnesty and had not served their sentence. Among them was the driver of the snowplow, Vladimir Martynenko: he had 0.6 g of alcohol per liter of blood at the time of the accident, according to the Russian Investigation Committee.
World
Death of Christophe de Margerie: The trial opens in Moscow
Economy
Five things you might not know about Christophe de Margerie
- Russia
- Economy
- Justice
- World