Three Russian pilots have been freed from jail

September 15, 2015

In January 2014, at the request of the Confederation of Labour of Russia (KTR) and the pilots union at Aeroflot, the LabourStart launched an online campaign demanding the release of jailed union leaders Alexei Shlyapnokov, Valeriy Pimoshenko and Sergei Knyshov, and the ITF Civil Aviation Section supported this campaign.

As part of this campaign over 12,000 messages has been sent to the Aeroflot management!

In April 2015, the pilots were sentenced to long jail terms.

This week, the court of appeals overturned their sentences and all three were sent home. They are under a kind of house arrest, and there will be a new trial.

This is not a final victory, but a very positive development.

Tags: Aeroflot, Collective Bargaining, Human and Trade Union Rights, pilots, Russia