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Jet crash at Moscow airport

Moscow court sets free Vnukovo airport Falcon jet crash suspect

Almost a year ago, a Falcon business jet staked a snowplow and crashed on the runway, killing the Total CEO Christophe de Margerie and the three-strong crew of the jet

© Mikhail Pochuyev/TASS

MOSCOW, September 21. /TASS/.A Moscow court has set free a man who is a suspect in the case over the October 21, 2014 crash of a Falcon business jet of the French oil corporation Total at Moscow's Vnukovo airport, the lawyer defending the man told TASS.

"We managed to present to the Prosecutor's Office the arguments suggesting that the snowplow driver Vladimir Martynenko had been subjected to an excessively harsh pretrial measure," said the man's lawyer, Alexander Korobanov said.

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"The prosecutors agreed with the defence and set my defendant free," he said, adding that he was not aware of the destiny of other individuals featured in the same case.

On the night from October 20 to October 21, a Falcon business jet of the French oil corporation Total staked a snowplow during takeoff from Vnukovo, caught fire and crashed on the runway, killing the corporation’s CEO Christophe de Margerie and the three-strong crew of the jet.

Russian authorities instituted a criminal case on charged of encroachment on the regulations for safe air traffic and safe aircraft operations.

A total of three persons were arrested in connection with the case - the engineer of the airdrome maintenance and supply service, Vladimir Ledenyov, the driver of the snowplow that the jet had staked, Vladimir Martynenko, and the air controller, Alexander Kruglov.

Another two suspects, the chief of flights at the Vnukovo air navigation control center, Roman Dunayev and the trainee Svetlana Krivsun, were placed under house arrest.

All the suspects are charged with an offence under Clause 3 of Article 263 of the Russian Criminal Code - violation of the rules for safe air traffic and aircraft operation rules that resulted in the death of two or more people.

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