All news

All people featured in October 2014 Falcon jet crash released from Moscow custody

Overnight to October 21, 2014, a Falcon business jet of the French oil corporation Total staked a snowplow during takeoff from Moscow's Vnukovo airport, caught fire and crashed on the runway

MOSCOW, September 22. /TASS/. All the individuals featured in the case over the October 2014 crash of the Falcon business jet at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport have been released from custody, Nikolai Semyonov, a lawyer defending one of the individuals told TASS on Tuesday.

"Vladimir Ledenyov, the leading engineer of the airport’s airdrome maintenance service, Alexander Kruglov, an air controller, Svetlana Krivsun, a trainee of the air control department, and Roman Dunayev, the chief of flights at Vnukovo have been released as the maximum allowable term for keeping them in custody has expired," Semvyonov said.

Earlier on the same day, a source familiar with the situation said Anatoly Kruglov, production director of the airport’s subcontractor company OOO Spetstekhrekonstruktsiya, who is also involved in the same case, was released from custody.

On Monday, the authorities set free Vladimir Martynenko, the operator of a snowplowing vehicle.

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 charges of encroachment on the regulations for safe air traffic and safe aircraft operations.

The court issued authorization for arresting Vladimir Ledenyov, Vladimir Martynenko, and Alexander Kruglov, while placing Roman Dunayev and Svetlana Krivsun under house arrest.

All the suspects were 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.