QURGHON TEPPA, December 26, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- Rolkan Investment Ltd, a private company registered in the British Virgin Islands, has filed a complaint in the Khatlon regional court against the verdict passed by the Qurghon Teppa city court on confiscation of two Antonov An-72s owned by the company.

Lawyer Ghulom Boboyev, who represented the company, told Asia-Plus Monday afternoon that Rolkan Investment Ltd director general Sergey Poluyanov has sent him the copy of the complaint and the attorney to represent the company in court.

“The company management considers that two An-72s with registration numbers of 4L-NAS and 4L-FAs had been confiscated illegally,” said the lawyer, “The complaint, in particular, notes that both planes are the property of the company and under the norms of international law they cannot be confiscated in the absence of guilt of the owner.”

Meanwhile, representative from the Khatlon regional court says they have not yet received any complaint from the Rolkan Investment Limited management.

We will recall that on November 22, the Khatlon regional court overturned a November 8 verdict by the Qurghon Teppa city court that sentenced Captain Vladimir Sadovnichiy (national of Russia) and Captain Aleksey Rudenko (national of Estonia), who are working for Rolkan Investment Ltd, to 8½ years in prison for flying illegally into Tajikistan smuggling aircraft parts.  Technically, the Khatlon regional court reduced the pilots'' sentences to 2 ½ years each.  With the subtraction of two years under the amnesty, and six months for time served, the immediate release of the pilots was secured.

Experts note that the verdict against the pilots has been changed under the pressure from the Russian authorities.

Sadovnichiy and Rudenko were arrested in March, after they stopped their two AN-72 cargo aircraft for unauthorized refueling near the southern Tajik city of Qurghon-Teppa en route from Afghanistan to Russia.

Tajik authorities said the two pilots ignored warnings from Tajikistan''s air-traffic controllers and entered Tajik airspace illegally.  The planes were confiscated.

Tajik Prosecutor-General Sherkhon Salimzoda told reporters in Dushanbe on November 10 that Sadovnichiy asked Tajik air traffic controllers seven times for permission to enter Tajikistan''s airspace and was refused every time.  He said Sadovnichiy then asked for permission for an emergency landing, even at the risk the planes would be impounded.

Salimzoda noted that before the two planes took off, Afghan government officials informed Tajikistan that they had false registration numbers and were not registered in any country.  They also did not have log books or air safety certificates.

Tajik chief prosecutor said the investigation established that the two aircraft were removed in 2008 from the list of aircraft registered in Georgia and since then have been based in Afghanistan.  He said that according to Afghan aviation authorities, the planes have not been inspected for the past three years and are no longer licensed to fly.

The Antonov An-72 is a transport aircraft developed by Antonov in the former Soviet Union. It was designed as a STOL (short take-off and landing) transport and intended as a replacement for the Antonov An-26, but variants have found success as commercial freighters.