Egyptian Prime Minister does not pay for the attack
Rejected the claim of the victims from the explosion of the plane over the Sinai.
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As it became known””, a Cairo court rejected the first claim of relatives of Russians killed in the plane crash A321 “Kogalymavia” in the fall of 2015. Defendants it was the authorities in the person of Prime Minister of Egypt and a few members of the government. According to the plaintiffs, the officials and their subordinates was criminal negligence in providing security training to flight, which allowed the terrorists to carry on Board a Russian airliner bomb and blow it up over the Sinai. However, the court considered that safety standards were met, and officials have committed “errors” that are worth compensation. However, the fact that “unlawful interference” in flight A321, the Egyptian authorities do not deny, but actually shy away from cooperation with the Russian authorities in the investigation of the attack.
According to “Kommersant”, the decision to refuse satisfaction of the claim of relatives of victims of the tragedy on mount Sinai received the first instance court of Northern Cairo. As noted in the decision of the President of the court, Hani Mustafa, the plaintiffs requested the court that, held the Egyptian authorities responsible for disaster A321 “Kogalymavia” 31 October 2015, in whole or in part “as a result of an offense or failure.”
The appellants as earlier told “Kommersant”, insisted on the payment of compensation for the tragic incident, believing that it resulted from “negligence or mistakes” made by the defendants in their official authority and their subordinates, which could disrupt official duties.
The lawsuit was made by Egyptian Prime Minister Sheriff Ismail (resigned in June 2018 — “b”), as well as three Ministers — interior, Finance and aviation.
According to the applicants, that the Egyptian officials in accordance with international standards was to ensure the safety of the liner during its Parking at the airport of Sharm El-Sheikh before flying to Saint Petersburg. But the terrorists somehow carried on Board an improvised explosive device that detonated after 23 minutes after departure, which led to the death of 217 passengers and seven crew members.
The interests of Russians in the court of Northern Cairo was represented by the staff of a famous law firm Girardi Keese, who worked together with lawyers of Russia Mikhail Zagajnovym and David Kukhalashvili. Just as previously reported by “Kommersant”, in the court of Egypt turned 30 members of the families of the victims. The possible amount of compensation for the negligence of officials was supposed to calculate in the course of the trial, but she was clearly more than 2-3 million rubles, which the relatives of the victims of the tragedy received in Russia. In addition, in the same court North of Cairo, was filed the second group of claims concerning liabilities of the airline “Kogalymavia” and “Ingosstrakh”. In this case, it amounted to a total of $90 million — $3 million for each of the victims. As explained “Kommersant” Lord zagajnov and Kukhalashvili, the court refused to admit a claim against the officials.
According to them, the court came to the conclusion that in the case of security A321 at the airport of Sharm El-Sheikh has not been documented “making a direct personal failure” by the defendants, which would be the cause of the accident. After takeoff, the plane was technically serviceable, but crashed as the result of some “illegal acts” of third parties.
Thus all statements about the lack of security and outright negligence, the judge called only “assumptions that cannot be considered as legal evidence.” As a result, the court refused the plaintiffs, pointing out that responsibility to the relatives of the victims have to bear the airline and ordered them to pay court costs.
“The court has shown incompetence or, perhaps, deliberately took the responsibility from the Egyptian authorities for the attack. If we proceed from the solution, blame the terrorists and the airline”, — said “Kommersant” Mr. Zagainov, stressing that this decision has been appealed to the court of appeal of Cairo.
David Kukhalashvili noted that the claim for the obligations of the carrier still essentially considered now in court representatives “Kogalymavia” trying to challenge the jurisdiction to send the case to the Russian court and to consider it under the legislation of the Russian Federation. The lawyers also stressed that going in the near future to file a lawsuit from the 45 relatives of the victims of the terrorist attack on the actions of the Egyptian authorities, assuming the decision is unreasonable. According to their position, the court had no right to dismiss already filed a lawsuit, as the official investigation of the tragedy is not over yet. We will remind that the Russian authorities in contrast to the Egyptian almost immediately it called the incident a terrorist act (article 205 of the criminal code). According to “Kommersant”, the study of the fragments of the aircraft, the flight recorders, avionics, and display of fragments and engines showed that on-Board explosion. In turn, bomb experts determined that the bomb was in the baggage compartment of the plane.
Kommersant’s sources familiar with the investigation, said that with the end of 2016 participants of the Russian investigations cannot establish contact with the Egyptian side to obtain information about the status of the local proceedings.
The latest data was provided in November 2016 with the interim report. Further attempts even with the participation of diplomats to draft final report on the causes of the disaster have failed. It was assumed that the final document could contain information about the investigation and about the measures that Egypt is taking to complete the investigation, so that in the future it would be possible to develop recommendations to prevent similar accidents.
The representatives of the deceased passengers do not exclude that the delay in the investigation of the Egyptian side may be due to the fact that the Egyptian government has avoided financial responsibility for the incident.
The Egyptian lawyer of Russians Mohamed at-Taher told “Kommersant” that in General this claim against the government of Egypt is not a precedent. However, the decision on compensation was made after the active intervention of the authorities of countries whose citizens were victims.
So, in 2016, in Cairo, was killed by 28-year-old student from Italy Giulio of Regen, his body was found in the suburbs with signs of torture. After the active intervention of the Italian government, which was outraged by the lack of objective investigation, withdrew its Ambassador and even suspended military supplies to the Arab country, the crime was solved and the relatives of the deceased compensation. Under the similar scenario events developed and after another tragic incident in 2015. Then Egyptian security forces shot a helicopter with a group of tourists from Mexico who were traveling through the desert in jeeps, confusing them with terrorists. Foreign Ministry immediately stepped in to protect their citizens. As a result, Egypt has paid the families of the victims a large compensation, and even pledged to build a memorial to the murdered tourists.
It should also be noted that some of the relatives of the dead passengers A321 decided to require “Kogalymavia” and “Ingosstrakh” compensation through the Russian justice. Now claims to 93 billion rubles, and also another insurer “the Alliance global corporate & Specialty”, the leasing company and the travel company dealt with in the Zamoskvoretsky district court of Moscow.
Sergey Sergeev, Elizabeth Kuznetsova