Appointed Less Than Two Months After Release From Prison

The sad, strange saga of Vitaly Kaloyev, the Russian man who served less than three years in prison for the murder of a Swiss air traffic controller he blamed for the loss of his family in a 2002 midair collision, took another odd turn this week... when he was elected to high-level post in regional government.

As ANN reported, Kaloyev was released from prison in November, under an order from Switzerland's highest court. Kaloyev, 51, had served time since October 2005 for the murder of Skyguide controller Peter Nielsen.

Nielson was the sole controller on duty July 1, 2002 when a Bashkirian Airlines Tupolev Tu-154 collided with a DHL Boeing 757 over southern Germany, in airspace under Nielsen's watch. The crash killed 71 people, including Kaloyev's wife and children.

The distraught architect was convicted for the February 2004 murder of Nielson, in front of the Swiss man's family. Kaloyev admitted to the court he must have killed Nielson, who he blamed from the crash, though he couldn't remember doing so. He was sentenced to eight years in prison, later reduced to a five-year term.

The Associated Press reports Kaloyev was appointed as construction and architecture minister in North Ossetia on Friday... less than two months after he was released from prison, .

"He didn't agree to it immediately. We spoke a month ago, and he went back and forth but finally today he agreed to it," regional construction minister Yevgeny Rodionov told NTV.

Kaloyev's case brought widespread sympathy from the Russian population. The Swiss government chose to release the man from prison early, under a statute that allows for early release for good behavior.

In September, four other Skyguide employees were found guilty of negligent homicide in a separate case, which focused exclusively on the sequence of events leading to the crash.

FMI: www.skyguide.ch