Il-76 case: court rejected appeal by General Nazarov's defense

The Appeal Court of the Dnipropetrovsk region refused to grant the motions filed by attorneys of Major-General Viktor Nazarov at the beginning of the hearing on Sept. 26 against the decision of the Pavlohrad district court that found Nazarov guilty of official negligence and sentenced him to seven years in prison.

Nazarov's attorneys were asking of recusal for one of the military prosecutors, Censor.NET reports citing Radio Svoboda.

The attorneys said the prosecutor acted as three different actors in the case - the investigator, the procedural head, and the prosecutor, which is a violation of the European laws.

The court said the attorneys failed to cite a single provision of the Ukrainian legislation that was violated and rejected the motion.

The court also rejected the motion filed by Nazarov's attorney Mykhailo Turyk to send the request to the court of first instance, the Pavlohrad district court, to receive information on familiarization of the court judge Nataliia Samotkan with the text of articles of war of the Ground Troops of Ukraine, which, as the attorneys state, is classified.

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

Prior to the court hearing, a row occurred between relatives of the victims of the Il-76 crash on one side and the wife of Nazarov on the other. The relatives said they gathered to "defend the legal sentence" and prevent the appeals court from changing the ruling of the first instance court.



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.