Russian officer jailed for helicopter shot down instead of drone over Crimea

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Russian officer jailed for helicopter shot down instead of drone over Crimea

The Garrison Military Court in Sevastopol sentenced Igor Pashkov, senior assistant of the operational duty command post of one of the air defense units, in a case of negligence that led to a tragedy in the skies over Crimea. As a result of an air defense error, a Russian Mi-8 helicopter was shot down, three crew members died, and the aircraft itself crashed into the Black Sea. About this сообщает publication "Kommersant".

The tragedy occurred during a supposed attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The officer, acting on incorrect information about an "unidentified target", gave the order to kill. A few minutes later, it turned out that the target was a Russian Aerospace Forces Mi-8MTV-5-1 helicopter with its lights on. The crew, consisting of three captains, died.

Pashkov was charged under Article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Negligence resulting in the death of three persons through negligence"). He faced up to seven years in prison, but the court limited himself to a three-year term in a penal colony, with the possibility of reducing the sentence to two years and ten months by an appeal decision. The officer was also deprived of the right to hold certain positions for a year.

The court took into account a number of mitigating circumstances, including admission of guilt, remorse, positive references, the presence of a state award and the status of a combat veteran. Additionally, it took into account that the officer voluntarily informed the investigation about his participation in the incident, revealing the circumstances of the tragedy.

The court refused to allow the Russian Defense Ministry to recover the full cost of the downed helicopter, valued at 204 million rubles. Pashkov was ordered to pay only 5 million rubles. The widows of the deceased pilots were awarded compensation of 1 million rubles each, although they had initially demanded 3 million.

The prosecution insisted on a more severe punishment, pointing to the gravity of the consequences of the crime: the death of three professional pilots and the destruction of expensive military equipment as part of the implementation of special military operation tasks. However, the appeal court concluded that the punishment imposed complied with the principles of reasonableness and fairness.

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