ZURICH, October 26 (RIA Novosti) -- The Supreme Court of Zurich sentenced Russian Vitaly Kaloyev to eight years in jail Wednesday for the premeditated murder of a Swiss air traffic controller, but his defense said it would appeal, and Russian prosecutors said they would seek Kaloyev's extradition.
The sentence will include the 610 days during which Kaloyev, who lost his wife, daughter, and son in an air crash in 2002, has already been detained in Switzerland pending the court verdict.
When the verdict was announced, Kaloyev refused to get up.
"I am accused of burying my children. Why would I stand up?" he said.
Peter Nielsen, a Skyguide air traffic controller, was stabbed to death on February 24, 2004 near his house in the Swiss town of Kloten. Kaloyev was arrested in a local hotel a day later.
Kaloyev lost his family in an air crash on July 2, 2002 when a Tu-154 plane owned by Bashkirian airlines collided with a DHL-owned Boeing over Germany's Lake Constance. Sixty-nine people, including 45 Bashkirian children, who were flying to Spain for a holiday, and two Boeing pilots, were killed.
German investigators said the accident was due largely to negligence on the part of Skyguide, and partially the fault of the two Russian pilots.
Kaloyev's defense team decided to appeal against the verdict, defense lawyer Markus Hug said.
Prosecutors described the verdict as too lenient, and said that they might consider an appeal, Prosecutor Ulrich Weder said after the trial.
The Russian Justice Ministry said it would seek Kaloyev's extradition to Russia to serve his sentence there, Saak Karapetyan, the director of the international law and cooperation department of the ministry, told the Ekho Moskvy radio station.
Since Russia and Switzerland have no extradition agreement, and Russia has only signed but not ratified the 1983 European Convention, the only option would be to sign a separate agreement on this particular case, Karapetyan said.
"The main thing is for Kaloyev to agree," he said.
Taimuraz Mamsurov, the president of the Russian North Caucasus republic of North Ossetia where Kaloyev was born, attended the trial as a private person.
"Skyguide can be happy and sleep calmly. Our Vitaly will be in prison, and Nielsen who bore the brunt of the company's sins is no longer with us."
Kaloyev's brother Yury said: "I had to attend the trial of my brother today, instead of a trial of those who killed 71 people."
He also showed photos of the bodies of children who died in the crash.
