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Swiss air crash verdict expected Four guilty over Swiss air crash
(about 8 hours later)
A court in Switzerland is due to deliver a verdict in the trial of eight employees of the air traffic control company Skyguide. A Swiss court has found four employees of an air traffic control firm guilty of manslaughter over the deaths of 71 people in a mid-air collision in 2002.
The eight are charged with manslaughter and negligence over a midair collision in 2002, in which 71 people died. Three of the four managers convicted were given suspended prison terms and the fourth was ordered to pay a fine.
The prosecution wants prison sentences of up to 15 months for the accused. Another four employees of the Skyguide firm were cleared of any wrongdoing.
Two investigations have already found what are described as organisational deficiencies within Skyguide, claimed to have contributed to the accident. Prosecutors had said a "culture of negligence" at the firm contributed to the mid-air collision, which killed mostly Russian children.
All eight men on trial maintain their innocence - seven still work for Skyguide. The charter aircraft carrying Russian children to a holiday in Spain collided with a cargo plane in Swiss airspace on 1 July 2002. The wreckage came down in Germany.
Seventy-one people died when the Russian charter flight carrying children on holiday collided with a cargo plane in Swiss airspace on 1 July 2002 - the wreckage came down in Germany. 'Organisational deficiencies'
All eight men on trial had maintained their innocence. Seven had continued working for Skyguide until the time of the verdict.
The BBC's Imogen Foulkes, in Berne, says it is significant that the four Skyguide employees acquitted were all air traffic controllers - rather than managers.
She says this shows the judges backed the prosecution's view that the managers at Skyguide were responsible for introducing negligent, potentially dangerous working practices.
Two separate investigations have already found what were described as organisational deficiencies within Skyguide. These deficiencies were said to have contributed to the accident.
Controller stabbedController stabbed
The trial revealed that minutes before the crash a single air traffic controller was in charge of 15 planes, he made 118 radio contacts with them, and he was guiding a plane into land. The trial revealed that minutes before the crash a single air traffic controller was in charge of 15 planes: He made 118 radio contacts with them, and he was guiding a plane into land.
The controller was stabbed to death in front of his wife at his home
Technical repairs were being carried out and some radar systems were not working.Technical repairs were being carried out and some radar systems were not working.
That air traffic controller was later stabbed and killed by the father of two of the children who died. The air traffic controller in question was later stabbed and killed by the father of two of the children who died.
At the time Skyguide insisted that having just one air traffic controller on duty was normal - but it has since outlawed the practice, and provided financial compensation to some of the bereaved families. At the time, Skyguide insisted that having just one air traffic controller on duty was normal - but it has since outlawed the practice, and provided financial compensation to some of the bereaved families.
What many Russian relatives say they want from this verdict, however, is an official admission of responsibility for the crash.