Vitaly Kaloyev, the Russian man who stabbed to death a Swiss air traffic controller whom he held responsible for the 2002 midair collision in which his wife and two children died, has received a visa to Germany to attend a memorial service for the victims of the disaster.
“The Russian consul has kept his promise. Vitaly has received a visa to Germany. He is heading to the site of the tragedy accompanied by Russian diplomats,” Taimuraz Mamsurov, the governor of Kaloyev’s native North Ossetia, said on his Twitter account.
Kaloyev had asked the Russian authorities for help in securing a German visa so he could attend the 10th anniversary memorial service.
“Many thanks to the consul and all the others who participated. And thanks to the German authorities. It was a wise decision,” Mamsurov said.
The crash occurred on the night of July 2, 2002. Kaloyev, who was working in Barcelona at the time, was awaiting the arrival of his wife and two small children. But their Bashkirian Airlines flight collided in mid-air with a DHL cargo plane over Uberlingen in southern Germany. All 71 people aboard both planes died.
Kaloyev later tracked down the Swiss air traffic controller on duty that night, Peter Nielsen, who had been cleared of wrongdoing by aviation investigators.
Kaloyev confronted Nielsen in front of his home near Zurich on February 24, 2004, and then stabbed him to death. He was arrested in Switzerland and subsequently sentenced to eight years in prison. Kaloyev was released on appeal in 2007, when he returned to North Ossetia.
Greeted as a hero, Kaloyev, an architect, was subsequently appointed deputy construction minister of North Ossetia.
