Supreme Court acquits General Nazarov in Il-76 crash case
A panel of judges announced a respective ruling on Friday, May 21, the court's press service reported.
"On May 21, 2021, the Criminal Court of Cassation of the Supreme Court, based on the consideration of the case against Viktor Mykolaiovych Nazarov on charges of a crime committed under Part 3 of Article 425 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, overturned [previous] court rulings and closed criminal proceedings due to the lack of a criminal offense in Nazarov's actions," the report reads.
According to the report, the court of cassation's judgment is motivated by the fact that on the basis of the facts of the case established by the courts, their conclusion that Nazarov could prevent a terrorist attack in which an Il-76-MD aircraft was shot down and 49 servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were killed is wrong.
An Il-76 plane carrying 40 troops and nine crew members was shot down by Russian-backed forces in Luhansk region on June 14, 2014. All people on board the plane died.
On March 27, 2017, Pavlohrad City District Court found Major General Viktor Nazarov guilty of "negligent attitude to service committed in a combat situation, which led to grave consequences" and sentenced him to seven years in prison. Nazarov was responsible for sending the plane and served as the chief of the headquarters of the Anti-Terrorist Operation at the time of the tragedy. Nazarov filed an appeal.
In November 2018, Dnipro Court of Appeal decided to consider his appeal and to conduct a new military examination, which lasted almost one year.
In August 2019, Chief of the General Staff, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Ruslan Khomchak signed a report on Nazarov's dismissal from the Ukrainian Armed Forces. On August 5, Nazarov said that he had submitted a report on his voluntary dismissal from the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
On December 11, 2020, Dnipro Court of Appeal upheld the Pavlohrad City District Court ruling. Nazarov was to serve seven years in prison.
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