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FC speaker urges review of verdict against Russian pilot

Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said on Wednesday she planned to request her Tajik counterpart to analyze legitimacy of the verdict issued against pilots.....

MOSCOW, November 9 (Itar-Tass) — Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said on Wednesday she planned to request her Tajik counterpart to analyze legitimacy of the verdict issued against pilots of the Russian air carrier.

Speaking at the Federation Council’s plenary session she described the verdict as “extremely severe and politically motivated.”

“We had not heard any legal proof of the guilt of the accused,” she said. “The guilty verdict was based on some speculations and groundless suppositions.”

Matviyenko expressed confidence that this judgment “is the violation of international norms by Tajikistan.”

“Everybody in Russia expressed indignation over this verdict,” she said assuring that “the Russian authorities, including the Federation Council, will do their utmost to help our compatriots.”

“Today I will leave for a meeting of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly in St. Petersburg, where I plan to talk with the Tajik parliamentary speaker and express our position,” Matviyenko said. “We have no right to interfere in judicial decisions, but I will ask him to carefully analyze the situation and within the framework of possible parliamentary procedures to assess legitimacy of the announced verdict.”

On Tuesday the Tajik court sentenced pilots of the Russian air carrier Rolkan Investments – Vladimir Sadovnichy and Alexei Rudenko – to 10.5 years in a strict regime colony. Their sentence was reduced to 8.5 years under the presidential amnesty.

The pilots were found guilty of violating the rules of international flights, illegal border crossing and contraband.

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