Public Radio of Armenia. Russian military investigators have reclassified the criminal case on the shooting of a military helicopter Mi-24 on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan to a more serious article (premeditated murder), Interfax quotes a source as saying.
“The criminal case, which was initially launched under Article 351 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (violation of the rules of flights or preparation for them, resulting in death by negligence) was reclassified to a more serious Article – part 2 of Article 105 (intentional murder of two or more persons),” said the interlocutor of the agency.
He clarified that while the previous Article envisaged a punishment of up to seven years in prison, the perpetrators can now be sentenced to life in prison. The source also noted that the decision was made based on the results of investigative and operational actions taken within the framework of the case.
Two crewmembers were killed one was injured as the Azerbaijani side shot down the helicopter over Armenia near the border with Nakhijevan on November 9.
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Azerbaijan admitted to “accidentally” shooting down the helicopter.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the error occurred due to the fact that the helicopter flew in close proximity to the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, at the time active military clashes continued in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.
