| The Swiss are studying all telephone conversations of Russian Kaloyev Russian Vitaly Kaloev (pictured) , the alleged killer of Skyguide air traffic controller Peter Nielsen, said goodbye to a psychiatric clinic in Rheinau, where he spent more than a year. By order of district prosecutor Pascal Gossner, Kaloev was transferred to the Peschwis prison in Regensdorf, to a separate cell in a special block for newcomers. On July 2, 2002, while Nielsen was on duty over Lake Constance in Germany, a Boeing cargo plane and a Russian Tu-154 of Bashkir Airlines collided. 71 people died, including 69 Russians. 48-year-old Ossetian Vitaly Kaloev lost his wife, little son and daughter in a plane crash. On February 24, 2004, according to investigators, he attacked air traffic controller Nielsen with a knife on the threshold of his home near Zurich and killed him.
Prosecutor Gossner told a Vremya Novostey correspondent: “During interrogation on February 15, Mr. Kaloev actually admitted to committing the murder. He said that under the weight of the evidence presented, he was forced to tell the court that, apparently, he really killed the air traffic controller. Therefore, I have every reason to charge him with premeditated murder.”
Kaloyev's defender Markus Hug in an interview with VN refused to comment on these words. “I prefer to wait for a specific document - an indictment. In about three to four weeks, Mr. Gossner will close the investigation and transfer his findings to the lead prosecutor of the 4th district of the cantonal prosecutor's office, Ulrich Weder (who deals with violent crimes - Ed. ). At the end of April - beginning of May, Mr. Veder will give an indictment, and after that we can talk about prospects.” The trial of Kaloev will apparently take place in the fall.
Kaloev was placed in a clinic immediately after his arrest on February 24, 2004. During interrogations, Kaloev could not even clearly remember his communication with Nielsen. “I may have killed him,” he said. In a conversation with VN, prosecutor Gossner said that Mr. Kaloev has now been transferred to prison because his condition has stabilized and the threat of suicide no longer exists.
However, even in the clinic, Vitaly Kaloyev’s detention regime has become much stricter since last week. All his telephone conversations, correspondence and visits are strictly controlled. True, Kaloev still has the right to write and receive letters, talk for ten minutes on the phone twice a week, and the total duration of visits is four hours a month. The strictures, as VN learned, were the result of the publication in one of the Moscow newspapers of an interview taken by phone with Vitaly Kaloev.
This interview was immediately reprinted by the largest circulation newspaper in Switzerland, Blik, with the addition of a part of the telephone conversation that was not published in the Russian edition (all telephone conversations of prisoners are recorded). In an interview, Kaloev asserted: “Switzerland is to blame for the death of my children,” called the Swiss “bastards,” and said that they want him to commit suicide. In an unpublished part of the telephone conversation there is a phrase: “I told the Swiss that I would not learn their dog language!” Judging by comments in the Swiss media, Kaloev also expressed some “threats against a third party.”
The publication caused great indignation in quiet Switzerland. Moreover, when translating Kaloev’s statements, the most colorful synonyms were chosen, so the meaning of what was said was often simply distorted. But the main reason for the severity imposed by the Swiss authorities was that the Russian journalist introduced himself as a relative of Kaloyev. After all, prosecutor Gossner officially told the doctors that “Kaloev’s communication with media representatives is undesirable.” The chief doctor of the clinic, Otto Horber, for his part, explained: “Since Mr. Kaloev is in pre-trial detention, he has the right by law to talk on the phone. But since we don’t know Russian, we can’t know who he’s talking to. However, his defiant behavior shows the danger he still poses."
According to lawyer Markus Hug, the interview, taken without the knowledge of the defense, is very “harmful to the reputation” of his client. In a conversation with VN, he said that he ordered an accurate translation of the interview for presentation to the investigative authorities in order to at least “eliminate the danger of bringing additional charges against Kaloyev for threatening a third party.” “But in the eyes of the public, Mr. Kaloev is already presented in an unfavorable light, and he will appear before the court in a very unfavorable atmosphere for him. Unfortunately, the journalist, in pursuit of sensation, did not think about how this could turn out for my client,” Mr. Hug told VN.
Both Mr. Gossner and Mr. Hug, in a conversation with VN, agreed that Kaloyev’s case will most likely be considered in September-October of this year. Kaloev's lawyer believes that the process will not last long: on the first day all parties will be heard, on the second the verdict will be pronounced. If Kaloyev is charged with premeditated murder, then in the absence of aggravating circumstances he faces at least five years in a maximum security prison. But if his state of mind after severe mental trauma is taken into account, the punishment can be reduced to one year. Varvara SEMENOVA, Geneva |
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