A Swiss court on Wednesday found a Russian guilty of premeditated killing in the death of an air traffic controller he said was responsible for a mid-air collision in which his family died.
Vitaly Kaloyev, 48, lost his wife and two children when a DHL cargo plane and a Russian passenger jet collided in Swiss-controlled airspace over southern Germany on July 1, 2002. He was charged with killing Peter Nielsen on Feb. 24, 2004, the only air traffic controller on duty at the time.
The Russian was alleged to have paid a detective to find out Nielsen’s address and confronted him on the terrace of his home near Zurich airport, stabbing the Dane to death in front of his wife and three children.
The judge was expected to pass sentence later on Wednesday. Under Swiss law, premeditated killing ranks between murder and manslaughter and carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.
