A man imprisoned for killing an air traffic controller for the death of his family was greeted Tuesday by supporters in Moscow after an early release.

Vitaly Kaloyev, who lost his wife and two children in a 2002 plane crash, two years later stabbed to death the only air traffic controller on duty at the time a Russian Bashkirian Airlines passenger plane collided with a DHL cargo jet over southern Germany, in airspace managed by a Swiss air traffic control company, the official RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Kaloyev, 51, was sentenced to eight years in a Swiss prison, but Switzerland's highest court last week released him early for good behavior after having served more than two-thirds of his sentence.

In September, four employees of the Swiss air traffic control company Skyguide were found guilty of criminal negligence in a case examining the crash that killed 71 people.  // Copyright 2007 by United Press International



Publication date: 13 November 2007   

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