Nazarov appeal: relatives of troopers killed in Il-76 crash ask people to come to court on Sept. 26

The appeals court in Dnipro City will consider the case of General Viktor Nazarov on Sept. 26. Nazarov was earlier found guilty of the death of 49 fighters in Il-76 crash in Luhansk in summer 2014.

This was announced by Iliana Haiduk, sister of killed fighter Illia Haiduk, on Facebook, Censor.NET reports.

The hearing will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 26, at 10 a.m., she wrote.

"General Nazarov was found guilty and sentenced to seven years in prison, but he appealed [the decision]. It's been three years since the tragedy, but the general was not even suspended, he continues working in the General Staff, being featured in movies that support him, and laughing at those killed," she wrote.

Haiduk asked all Ukrainians to participate in the case and come to the court building on Sept. 26, at 9 a.m., in Dnipro City, at 13 Kharkivska Str.

See more: Commemoration of Il-76 victims held in Kyiv. PHOTOS



On June 14, 2014, Ukraine's Il-76 military-transport carrier with 40 paratroopers and nine members of the crew on board was shot down while landing in Luhansk airport. Nobody survived the crash.

Dec. 17, 2015, the Pavlohrad city district court of the Dnipropetrovsk region started a trial into the Il-76 case.

The only defendant, Major General Viktor Nazarov, was the commander of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) HQ at the moment of the tragedy. He was charged under part 3 article 425 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (habitual negligence in office during war, causing grave consequences).

The commission that carried out a complex military-tactical criminalistic analysis concluded that Nazarov was the one directly obliged to take measures to suppress the air defense of terrorists and ensure a safe passage of the aircraft.

The investigators questioned 132 witnesses and conducted 112 examinations.

On March 27, 2017, the Pavlohrad city district court sentenced Nazarov to seven years in prison. He was not deprived of his military rank. The moral damage suffered by the families of the victims is to be compensated by the Ministry of Defense. However, only the closest relatives - parents and wives - will receive a compensation.

The amount of compensation is 500,000 hryvnia ($18,367) for each family.