Plotnitsky is facing a possible sentence of life imprisonment for downing of Ukrainian Il-76 aircraft
The Prosecutor’s Office of the Dnipropetrovsk region reported that the indictment in the case of the downed IL-76 against the two Commanders of the LPR battalions, Andrei Patrushev and Alexander Gureev, and the Head of the Lugansk People’s Republic, Igor Plotnitsky, was sent to the court.
“The Head of the LPR terrorist organization, who was the Commander of the illegal armed group Zarya at the time the crime was committed, together with Patrushev (his then Deputy) and the Commander of the Vityaz illegal armed group, Alexander Gureev, were accused of shooting down an IL-76 military transport aircraft that was about to land in the Luhansk airport with 49 people aboard,” the report says.
Their actions were considered a terrorist act (under the part 3 of the Article 258 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). This Article provides for 10 to 15 years’ imprisonment or life imprisonment as a punishment for terrorist actions. Earlier, it was reported that the Prosecutor’s Office also requires eight years’ imprisonment for the Major-General, Viktor Nazarov, who is accused of an official negligence that led to a crash of the IL-76 over Luhansk.