Investigators have brought charges against the first suspect in investigation of the Yak-42 airplane crash of last September near Yaroslavl, which killed 44 people. On Thursday Russia's Investigative Committee (IC) spokesman Vladimir Markin said that the tragedy may have been caused by Vadim Timofeev, one of the former directors of "Yak-Service" air company.

"Investigators have concluded that Timofeev violated safety rules by appointing a crew illegally as the crew had no license for independent flights nor enough experience," Markin said to the Interfax news agency.

Investigators found out that Timofeev falsified documents which allowed the crew captain, Andrey Solomentsev, to fly the aircraft. The second pilot, Igor Zhevelov, was also not allowed to fly as at that time he had not completed his training.

"Timofeev did not take control of pilots' professional training, he regularly called them off trainings and allowed them to fly," Markin added. This means, according to Markin, that Timofeev knew in advance that the crew of Yak-42 was not properly trained to fly the airplane. The IC says that, as the director of the air company, Timofeev should not have allowed inexperienced pilots to fly.

As the IC said to Gazeta.ru, there are no other suspects in the case, the decision about Timofeev's punishment will be made soon.
A Yak-42 crashed on September 7, 2011 near Yaroslavl, some 270 kilometers from Moscow. The crash killed 44 people, including the entire ice hockey team, "Lokomotiv."
According to the final results from the International Aviation Committee (IAC), the tragedy was caused "due to crew error." The investigarors found out that, at the time of take-off, the airplane was completely in order. However, the plane crashed almost immediately after take-off.