FRANCE: Six people went on trial in eastern France yesterday on charges of manslaughter over the 1992 crash of an Airbus airliner in which 87 people died.
A long investigation failed to single out one particular reason why the Air Inter Airbus A320 smashed into the Sainte-Odile mountain as it approached Strasbourg airport in eastern France on January 20th, 1992. There were only nine survivors.
Five of those charged - a former air traffic controller and four former managers from the civil aviation authority, Air Inter and Airbus Industries - appeared at the start of a trial which is expected to last about two months. The sixth defendant, a former deputy director general of Air Inter, was absent for medical reasons. All six have pleaded not guilty.
The defendants are accused of committing errors that might have affected the safety of the Airbus A320. The court will have to decide whether the possible reasons suggested for the crash are punishable by the penal code.
The investigation suggested a range of possible factors which might, together, explain what caused the crash. These included the quality of guidance the plane was given to direct it towards Strasbourg airport and the composition of the crew.
Two of the defendants, both former civil aviation authority officials, are accused of failing to ensure that Air Inter planes were installed with an alarm system which would have warned the pilots that they were close to the ground - a system which has since become an international norm.
"They are being prosecuted not for violating a law or a regulation, but because the aeronautical law of the time was judged inadequate," their lawyer told the court after the charges were read out.
An association of the victims' families, called Echo, called for convictions. "We want a dignified debate, that is to say that every issue is raised, that people take responsibility and that justice is done," said Echo's secretary, Dominique Beguin.
"That will help us to find a certain peace of mind, to turn the page and to pay homage to those who died."