Czechs Sentence Russian Man Over Bomb Threat On Passenger Jet

A court in the Czech capital, Prague, has handed a 30-month prison sentence to a Russian man who forced a passenger plane to make an emergency landing by claiming he was carrying a bomb.

Yevgeny Dogayev, who has changed his surname to Rotshtein, was sentenced on April 13.

He tried to break into the cockpit of an Aeroflot Airbus A320 on a flight from Moscow to Geneva in 2006.

Apparently drunk, he demanded a change of route to Cairo but was subdued by people on board, and the plane made an emergency landing in Prague, authorities said.

No explosives were found.

The 40-year-old Rotshtein, who pleaded not guilty, still can appeal. Last year, he was extradited from Britain to face trial in the Czech Republic.

Based on reporting by AP and Noviny.cz