Translated material
The paths of the bomb are mysterious
The investigation into the terrorist attacks on airplanes in 2004 moved into the civil plane
The Dzerzhinsky District Court of Volgograd began consideration of a civil claim by a group of relatives of passengers on a Tu-154 plane that crashed in August 2004 as a result of a terrorist attack . The defendant in the case is East-Line Aviation Security CJSC , the security service of Domodedovo Airport, from where the deceased airliner took off on its last flight. The plaintiffs believe that this structure, which was responsible for pre-flight inspection of passengers and baggage, should be held responsible for the fact that a bomb was brought on board the plane. As moral compensation for the death of loved ones, the plaintiffs demand 3 million rubles from the company. every. The lawsuit itself was filed on behalf of 21 relatives of the victims of the tragedy.So far, only the first hearing in this civil case has taken place, and its outcome is unclear. However, the fact that the court accepted this claim for consideration may have serious consequences for the entire saga of the investigation into the August 2004 terrorist attacks. The Prosecutor General's Office, which is investigating the relevant criminal case, stated almost from the very beginning that the airport security service (SB) was not to blame for the incident. Although the Security Service was supposed to be responsible for checking all people and objects heading on board. The representative of the Domodedovo security service itself, by the way, has already asked to involve the Russian government as a co-defendant.
Tu-154 (flight Moscow - Sochi) and Tu-134 (Moscow - Volgograd), taking off from Domodedovo airport, were blown up by terrorists on August 24, 2004. The explosions occurred almost simultaneously - at 22.53. At that moment, the Tu-154 was in the sky over the Rostov region, the Tu-134 was over the Tula region. The flight to Sochi included 46 passengers and crew members, and 44 people to Volgograd. All 90 people died.
According to the Prosecutor General's Office, the explosions on the planes were carried out by natives of Chechnya Amanat Nagiyeva and Satsita Dzhebirkhanova, presumably recruited by the separatists and equipped with bombs. Although until now no one has officially confirmed that it was they who detonated the bombs (the simultaneity of the explosions, as experts believed, may indicate that the bombs were with a clock mechanism, and this version of the suicide bombers refutes). The investigation also assumed that the terrorist attacks were organized by Shamil Basayev and Achemez Gochiyaev (the organizer of the explosions of residential buildings in Moscow in the fall of 1999).
The Prosecutor General's Office immediately dropped suspicions of negligence against the airport security staff. But later I found other culprits. They turned out to be an employee of the Domodedovo police department, police captain Mikhail Artamonov , ticket speculator Armen Harutyunyan and a security officer of Siberia Airlines Nikolai Korenkov. Artamonov was sentenced to seven years in June 2005 for negligence for failing to search them when the alleged terrorists arrived at the airport. Harutyunyan was punished with a year and a half in prison for selling tickets to terrorists (if they were them). And Korenkov received the same sentence for helping women board the planes when boarding had officially ended. But relatives of the victims tried to find out who should have been responsible for the fact that the bombs somehow ended up hitting the planes.
In February 2005, they wrote to President Putin asking him to take control of the criminal investigation. Among other reasons, it stated that the investigators, according to relatives, did not properly assess the actions of the airport security service . They wrote, in particular, that the question of the proper or improper performance of their duties by aviation security officers was generally ignored, and “none of the airport’s civilian employees were questioned in any procedural capacity.”
But the letter had no effect. And then 21 relatives of the deceased passengers on the Moscow-Volgograd flight decided to file a claim against the security service for compensation for moral damages. It requires 3 million rubles. as compensation for moral damage from East-Line Aviation Security CJSC and 100 rubles each. from the Volga-Aviaexpress company, which operated the aircraft.
At the first meeting, a representative of the East Line company made several motions. He began with a request to postpone the consideration until the end of the investigation of the main case of airplane explosions. However, Judge Svetlana Chenegina, agreeing with the arguments of the other side that the case was suspended indefinitely, and also with the fact that the search for the organizers of the terrorist attacks does not affect the guilt or innocence of the security service, sided with the plaintiff. It was decided to consider the case, however, the defendant in it will be not only the legal successor of East-Line Aviation Security, but also the government of the Russian Federation. A representative of East Line asked to involve him as a co-defendant, since, in his opinion, the state should ensure the safety of citizens. And the judge agreed with this.
The East Line company itself said yesterday: “It is impossible to comment on this situation. According to the official conclusion of the state commission to investigate the causes of the Tu-134 and Tu-154 plane crashes on August 24, 2004, Domodedovo Airport is not to blame for what happened.”