Vladimir Sadovnichy and his Estonian counterpart Alexei Rudenko piloted two An-72s with food and humanitarian aid in Afghanistan in March 2011. They departed from Kabul to Kurgan-Tube with permission to cross over Tajikistan. An air traffic controller of Tajikaeronavigatsiya said that there was no permission. The pilots were arrested at Kurgan-Tube. Two months later Sadovnichy and Rudenko were sentenced to 8.5 years imprisonment last week for smuggling, illegal border crossing and flight violations. The investigation found out that the detained airplanes are military-cargo, and their exploitation term ended in 1999.
In Russia the pilots’ process provoked a strong public reaction. On November 14th President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev urged the president of Tajikistan to open a dialogue on this issue. He stated that the court decision causes many questions about elements of crime and the conduct of the process.
On November 22nd the sentence of Sadovnichy and Rudenko was reduced by the causational committee to 2.5 years, and later to 6 months (due to an amnesty). These 6 months had already been served by the pilots at the moment of the court decision, thus, they were let free in the courtroom.
After returning to Moscow, Vladimir Sadovnichy and his lawyer Anatoly Kucherena told journalists about the development of events after the arrest of the pilots at the Tajik airport, on the process of negotiations on solving the situation and further court prospects for the process.
“I had the impression that all this time the Tajik authorities just fabricated evidence to prove what they wanted from the very beginning. They held the pilots and their crews in custody for a very long period – 45 days – without officially charging them with anything. This measure was initiated by the country’s National Security Committee. They were not arrested, they were illegally held in custody. During this period of time the Tajik security officers blackmailed our citizens so that they would give up their planes,” Anatoly Kutcherena, the lawyer, says.
Sergey Poluyanov, the owner of Rolkan Investments Ltd, came to Tajikistan to hold negotiations with the government. The Tajik authorities demanded that he give up the two planes without compensation, but he refused. Then they asked him to sell the planes for token prices. According to the lawyer, Poluyanov also refused and than he had to literally flee the country, as he became concerned for his safety. Only after that, in May, were criminal charges finally presented to the pilots. The National Security Committee invited the two pilots to ‘sign some documents’ and then finally arrested them. “As for the corpus delicti, I can assure you – there is none, the case is totally fabricated. It was obvious that they wanted a bargain: planes for the pilots’ freedom,” Anatoly Kucherena said.
Vladimir Sadovnichiy explained that, according to international air law, the company can’t sign another contract while in the country where we fulfilled our last one. “We first thought to fly to the UAE, or somewhere else, but then our company decided that we should relocate to Tajikistan – a friendly state, as we thought back then.” According to the pilot they started negotiations with Tajikistan's Kurgan-Tube airport 10 days before the flight, and they obtained all the necessary documents and Kabul air services officially approved the flight plan and sent a copy to Dushanbe. “We also obtained permits to cross the state border for both planes. We proceeded according to the flight plan, and when we contacted the Tajik airport they at first allowed us to proceed. But then they asked our permit number and said that they couldn’t confirm it and said we should turn back. But we couldn’t go back to Kabul as we didn’t have enough fuel, as stipulated by international law,” the pilot said. “We requested an emergency landing in Dushanbe, and we didn’t deceive anybody – there are recordings of our talks with Tajik flight control. They allowed the landing, but after that something quite surprising happened. Officers in mufti ordered our crews to stay on board and told us, the captains, to come forward. Their first question was ‘Are you Afghan army?’ Of course we were shocked. There was an official customs examination – as stipulated by international law – and they found nothing illegal aboard our planes. There is an official document confirming it, signed by 7 officers of the Tajik customs service – and later it was added to our case.”
“Nevertheless, national security committee officers continued their interrogation. Tajik air control authorities representatives came along and supported our position. Security officers accused us of illegal border trespassing, while flight control tried to bring them to their senses and disprove these allegations,” Sadovnichy noted. The same night the pilots were told that the matter was settled, that they have nothing to worry about and that there remained only some formal matters to attend to, and the case would be closed in 72 hours.
Two days later the crew was officially told that they will be set free after the management of the National Security Committee meets the authorities of the airplane company. However, after the pilots left the National Security Committee their passports were taken off. In the hotel a guard was posted to watch over the crew. “Every day during these 45 days we were told that everything is fine, we have nothing to worry about, we should be patient and tomorrow they will let us free. We were intensively advised not to connect with the embassy and other official structures, as they intend to let us free in 2-3 days, and if official structures are involved, the process will last longer,” Sadovnichy remembers. When parents of one of the crew members began to worry and contacted the FSS, the National Security Committee of Tajikistan sent two members of the crew (a Ukrainian and a Russian) home. Two weeks later the pilots couldn’t wait any more and Sadovnichy said he would take a cab and go to the president of Tajikistan if his people were not set free immediately. When the pilots tried to leave the hotel, the guard blocked the doors and called for reinforcements – 12 officers. Only the next day did the management of the National Security Committee agree to meet with the pilots. But they did it to arrest them.
