The case of the downed Il-76 against the leader of the LPR Plotnitsky transferred to the High Specialized Court of Ukraine
The case against the leader of the LPR (Luhansk People’s Republic), Igor Plotnitsky, who is accused of committing a terrorist attack where an IL-76 aircraft transporting 49 Ukrainian service members was shot down, was transferred to the High Specialized Court of Ukraine for Civil and Criminal cases, as stated by the press service of the Court of Appeal of the Dnipropetrovsk region, where on October 20th hearings on the case were held, Ukrinform reports.
"The case against Plotnitsky (the leader of the LPR), Gureyev, and Patrushev (the commanders of the separatist battalions), who are accused of terrorism in the downing of an IL-76, was transferred to the High Specialized Court to determine which particular court will hear the case and reach a verdict," the press service noted.
On September 20th, the Court of Appeal of the Dnipropetrovsk region considered the request of the lawyers to send the case of the Luhansk terrorists to another court in the Dnipropetrovsk region, given that three judges of the Babushkinsky district court in the city of Dnipropetrovsk recused themselves from the case. The Court of Appeal then sent a motion to the chairman of the Babushkinsky district court to retain the jurisdiction of the Babushkinsky district court.
On June 14, 2014, 49 people were killed in an Il-76 plane after it was shot down by separatists over the airport in Luhansk. The LPR took responsibility for the crash immediately after the incident. On November 18, 2014, the military prosecutor's office announced charges in connection with the crash against the deputy head of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Donbas, Major-General Viktor Nazarov. The prosecutor's office claims that the general did not take into account information from the Security Service about the threat of a plane being shot down and authorized a special operation to deliver a company of soldiers to the Luhansk airport.
General Nazarov was charged according to Part 3 of Section 425 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (negligent attitude of a military official to the service, which entailed grave consequences in a combat situation).
The Pavlograd district court of the Dnipropetrovsk region sentenced him to seven years in prison, however Nazarov filed an appeal. On October 3rd, the board of judges of the Appeal Court of the Dnipropetrovsk region denied General Nazarov's petition.