22:58, 29 November 2004

Sentence upon Armenian pilots pronounced

On November 26, a court in Equatorial Guinea pronounced a sentence upon people charged with an attempt to overthrow the power in this country. Among the defendants were six Armenian pilots, a group of South Africans, and locals. The court sentenced the commander of the Armenian aircraft to 24 years' imprisonment, the other pilots were sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment. The South Africans were sentenced to imprisonment for 50-60 years, three of them were set free. The locals were sentenced to one year imprisonment.

The Armenian pilots' lawyer is preparing to take an appeal against the court decision to the Supreme Court of Equatorial Guinea and to international instances if necessary, reported the Armenian Foreign Ministry's press service. An official Armenian delegation is in this country now with the purpose of discussing with local authorities the extradition of the pilots to Armenia.

Author: Ashot Ter-Grigorian, CK correspondent

Source: Caucasian Knot