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Kiev Commercial Court of Appeals adjourns hearing on Russian Tu-154 crash in 2001

The Tu-154 airplane of the Sibir Airlines that was en route from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk crashed in the Black Sea in October 2001

KIEV, March 13 (Itar-Tass) —— Kiev’s Commercial Court of Appeals on Monday adjourned till March 26 its session on the appeal of Russia’s Sibir Airlines (now S7 Airlines) challenging the ruling of the Kiev first instance court, which refused to hold Ukraine’s military responsible for the crash of a passenger Tu-154 jet in 2001.

The Tu-154 airplane of the Sibir Airlines that was en route from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk crashed in the Black Sea in October 2001. All of its 66 passengers and 12 crew members died. The Interstate Aviation Committee’s commission established that the plane was shot down by a missile that was shot by the Ukrainian military during drills in Crimea.

In 2004, Sibir filed a lawsuit demanding the Ukrainian authorities to pay 15.32 million U.S. dollars as compensation. In the mean time, The Kiev-based research institute of forensic studies staged made another probe into the accident and said that the Ukrainian missile had been unable to reach the passenger plane.

So far, no one is hold responsible for the accident. Before the investigation is over, Ukraine has paid 200,000 U.S. dollars to the families of each crash victim as moral compensation.