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Families Demand Money For Ukrainian Air Show Tragedy


The air show tragedy shocked the nation 12 August 2005 -- Relatives of the 77 people killed in a 2002 air show crash in Ukraine filed an appeal today seeking harsher sentences for the pilots of the plane and demanding adequate compensation.

Stefan Kozakh, who heads an organization that represents the relatives, said the group had filed an appeal for compensation of $200,000 for each fatality.

So far, victims' families have received no compensation. In June, a military court sentenced the pilot and co-pilot, both of who ejected safely, to prison and ordered them to pay $2 million in compensation. But they each earn only about $200 per month, payment of the compensation appears unlikely.

The pilots were sentenced for trying to perform a maneuver at improperly low altitude and slamming the plane into a crowd at an air show near Lvov.

(AP/Interfax)

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