Russia is not satisfied with Saudi Arabian verdict on Russian plane hijackers

The Russian general prosecution is not satisfied with the too mild sentence Saudi Arabia passed on the two hijackers of a Russian Tu-154, Deni Magomerzayev and Iriskhan Arsayev.

They were sentenced to 6 and 4 years of imprisonment respectively. The verdict "does not correspond to the gravity of the crime committed", the information and public relations department of the Russian prosecutor general said to RIA Novosti on Wednesday. The prosecutor's office is considering possibilities of extraditing the offenders, according to the department.

The Russian Vnukovo airlines Tu-154 plane was hijacked by three Chechen terrorists on March 15, 2001, while flying from Moscow to Istanbul. The plane landed in Medina, Saudi Arabia, where special forces took it by assault. The operation killed stewardess Yulia Fomina, a passenger and the senior terrorist. The two other terrorists were arrested. The country's authorities refused to extradite them to Russia, and they faced the trial in Saudi Arabia.