Ukrainian General Viktor Nazarov, who was charged with dereliction of duty leading to the crash of the Il-76 military transport plane of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the summer of 2014, has been found guilty and sentenced to a seven-year jail term, the Kyiv-based Ukrayinska Pravda news portal has reported.
“Nazarov, Viktor Mykolayovych, is found guilty and sentenced to seven years in jail,” the Pavlohrad court justice said on March 27.
Nazarov’s defense lawyer Vitaliy Pogosyan on his Facebook page said the court found Nazarov guilty of a criminal offense pursuant to Part 3 of Article 425 of the Criminal code of Ukraine (dereliction of duty in military service) and sentenced him to seven years in jail. A motion to strip Nazarov of his military rank was refused.
Pogosyan said appeals by victims of the crash to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry were approved. Each will receive Hr 500,000.
As earlier reported, during the night of June 14, 2014 a hand-held rocket launcher fired at the transport plane as it was landing at Luhansk airport. There were 40 Ukrainian servicemen aboard and nine members of the plane’s flight crew. All died.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine created a special commission to look into the reasons for the crash. General Nazarov was thereafter served a notice of suspicion that he bore responsibility.
