Vitaly Kaloyev
Encyclopedia
Vitaly Konstantinovich Kaloyev ' onMouseout='HidePop("49585")' href="/topics/Vladikavkaz">Vladikavkaz
) is an architect and deputy minister of housing from North Ossetia, Russia
, known for his 2004 murder of Peter Nielsen in the Swiss
town of Kloten
. Kaloyev's family died aboard Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937
, which collided with another aircraft over Germany in 2002. Nielsen, the only air traffic controller on duty when the collision occurred, was freed from any responsibility in the following inquest and he retired from further air traffic work afterward. Kaloyev held Nielsen responsible, however, and became a popular hero in his home Caucasus republic following the murder.
Kaloyev was released from prison in November 2007 and shortly after was appointed deputy minister of construction of North Ossetia-Alania.
Peter Nielsen was stabbed to death in front of his home in Kloten
, near Zürich, on 24 February 2004. Police arrested an Ossetian
man, Vitaly Kaloyev, within a few days. Kaloyev, an architect working in Barcelona since 2002, expected to meet his wife, Svetlana Kaloyeva (Светлана Калоева), and two children, 10-year old Konstantin Kaloyev (Константин Калоев) and 4-year-old Diana Kaloyeva (Диана Калоева), who were not a part of the Bashkirian student group. The family of Kaloyev died on Flight 2937. Yuri Kaloyev, the brother of Vitaly Kaloyev, reported that the man suffered a nervous breakdown following the loss of his entire family, especially since he was one of the first relatives to arrive at the crash site. Vitaly Kaloyev participated in the search for the bodies and located a broken pearl necklace owned by his daughter, Diana. He also found her body, which was intact, trees having broken her fall. Her mother and brother fell 36,000 feet; Svetlana's body landed in a corn field, and Konstantin's body hit asphalt in front of a Überlingen bus shelter.
Returning to his home in North Ossetian city of Vladikavkaz
, Kaloyev spent the first year after the accident lingering at the graves of his family and building a shrine to them in his home. At the memorial service for the first anniversary of the tragedy he asked the head of Skyguide about the possibility of meeting the controller who had been responsible for the disaster, but received no response. Kaloyev then hired a Moscow private investigator to find Nielsen's address outside Zürich, before traveling to the former air traffic controller's home in Kloten (Nielsen had resigned from his job after the accident). After a short argument on Nielsen's doorstep Kaloyev stabbed him several times, and Nielsen died of his injuries a few minutes later in the presence of his wife and three children. Investigators found Kaloyev in his hotel room at a Kloten Welcome Inn, apparently in shock. He said he had no memory of what he had done and was taken to a mental hospital, where he was evaluated to determine if he was fit to stand trial.
Answering questions from the judge, Kaloyev said the plane crash above Lake Constance had ended his life. He said his children were the youngest on board Flight 2937, so there was no need for him to identify the bodies. Kaloyev said he was crushed by the loss of his family: "I have been living on the cemetery for almost two years, sitting behind their graves," he said.
Kaloyev presented a document received from a law firm in Hamburg dated 11 November 2003. It was an amicable agreement in which Skyguide offered him 60,000 Swiss francs for the death of his wife and 50,000 francs for the death of each of his two children. In return, Skyguide asked Kaloyev to decline any claims to the company. The document infuriated the man: he decided to meet the company director Alan Rossier and Nielsen in person.
"Apparently he did not expect that he would have to answer for the results of his work," Kaloyev said. "He murmured something to me. Then I showed him some pictures of my children and said: 'They were my children. What would you feel if you saw your children in coffins?' I was infuriated about Skyguide's initiative to haggle over my dead children."
Kaloyev said he wanted Nielsen to apologize to him for the death of his family. "He hit me on the hand, when I was holding the envelope with the photographs of my children. I only remember that I had a very disturbing feeling, as if the bodies of my children were turning over in their graves," he said. He added that he did not remember what he did afterwards.
After 710 days on remand, on 26 October 2005, Kaloyev was sentenced to eight years in federal prison. In 2007, he was paroled by the court, but the prosecution appealed the decision. On 23 August 2007, the court accepted the appeal, so that Kaloyev remained in prison. On 8 November 2007, Kaloyev was released from prison, because his mental condition was not sufficiently considered in the initial sentence.
recorded the song Ballad of Vitaly, featured as the closing track on their 2010 album History From Below
, chronicling Kaloyev's story.
German futurepop band Edge of Dawn
alludes to Kaloyev's story and mentions his name in the song "The Flight (Lux)", which appears on their 2005 EP The Flight (Lux)
and later their full-length 2007 album Enjoy the Fall
.
Vladikavkaz
-Notable structures:In Vladikavkaz, there is a guyed TV mast, tall, built in 1961, which has six crossbars with gangways in two levels running from the mast structure to the guys.-Twin towns/sister cities:...
) is an architect and deputy minister of housing from North Ossetia, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, known for his 2004 murder of Peter Nielsen in the Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
town of Kloten
Kloten
-External links:* -References:...
. Kaloyev's family died aboard Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937
Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937
The 2002 Überlingen mid-air collision occurred at 23:35 UTC on 1 July 2002 between Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 and DHL Flight 611 over the towns of Überlingen and Owingen in southern Germany...
, which collided with another aircraft over Germany in 2002. Nielsen, the only air traffic controller on duty when the collision occurred, was freed from any responsibility in the following inquest and he retired from further air traffic work afterward. Kaloyev held Nielsen responsible, however, and became a popular hero in his home Caucasus republic following the murder.
Kaloyev was released from prison in November 2007 and shortly after was appointed deputy minister of construction of North Ossetia-Alania.
Death of Peter Nielsen and aftermath
Peter Nielsen was stabbed to death in front of his home in Kloten
Kloten
-External links:* -References:...
, near Zürich, on 24 February 2004. Police arrested an Ossetian
Ossetians
The Ossetians are an Iranic ethnic group of the Caucasus Mountains, eponymous of the region known as Ossetia.They speak Ossetic, an Iranian language of the Eastern branch, with most also fluent in Russian as a second language....
man, Vitaly Kaloyev, within a few days. Kaloyev, an architect working in Barcelona since 2002, expected to meet his wife, Svetlana Kaloyeva (Светлана Калоева), and two children, 10-year old Konstantin Kaloyev (Константин Калоев) and 4-year-old Diana Kaloyeva (Диана Калоева), who were not a part of the Bashkirian student group. The family of Kaloyev died on Flight 2937. Yuri Kaloyev, the brother of Vitaly Kaloyev, reported that the man suffered a nervous breakdown following the loss of his entire family, especially since he was one of the first relatives to arrive at the crash site. Vitaly Kaloyev participated in the search for the bodies and located a broken pearl necklace owned by his daughter, Diana. He also found her body, which was intact, trees having broken her fall. Her mother and brother fell 36,000 feet; Svetlana's body landed in a corn field, and Konstantin's body hit asphalt in front of a Überlingen bus shelter.
Returning to his home in North Ossetian city of Vladikavkaz
Vladikavkaz
-Notable structures:In Vladikavkaz, there is a guyed TV mast, tall, built in 1961, which has six crossbars with gangways in two levels running from the mast structure to the guys.-Twin towns/sister cities:...
, Kaloyev spent the first year after the accident lingering at the graves of his family and building a shrine to them in his home. At the memorial service for the first anniversary of the tragedy he asked the head of Skyguide about the possibility of meeting the controller who had been responsible for the disaster, but received no response. Kaloyev then hired a Moscow private investigator to find Nielsen's address outside Zürich, before traveling to the former air traffic controller's home in Kloten (Nielsen had resigned from his job after the accident). After a short argument on Nielsen's doorstep Kaloyev stabbed him several times, and Nielsen died of his injuries a few minutes later in the presence of his wife and three children. Investigators found Kaloyev in his hotel room at a Kloten Welcome Inn, apparently in shock. He said he had no memory of what he had done and was taken to a mental hospital, where he was evaluated to determine if he was fit to stand trial.
Answering questions from the judge, Kaloyev said the plane crash above Lake Constance had ended his life. He said his children were the youngest on board Flight 2937, so there was no need for him to identify the bodies. Kaloyev said he was crushed by the loss of his family: "I have been living on the cemetery for almost two years, sitting behind their graves," he said.
Kaloyev presented a document received from a law firm in Hamburg dated 11 November 2003. It was an amicable agreement in which Skyguide offered him 60,000 Swiss francs for the death of his wife and 50,000 francs for the death of each of his two children. In return, Skyguide asked Kaloyev to decline any claims to the company. The document infuriated the man: he decided to meet the company director Alan Rossier and Nielsen in person.
"Apparently he did not expect that he would have to answer for the results of his work," Kaloyev said. "He murmured something to me. Then I showed him some pictures of my children and said: 'They were my children. What would you feel if you saw your children in coffins?' I was infuriated about Skyguide's initiative to haggle over my dead children."
Kaloyev said he wanted Nielsen to apologize to him for the death of his family. "He hit me on the hand, when I was holding the envelope with the photographs of my children. I only remember that I had a very disturbing feeling, as if the bodies of my children were turning over in their graves," he said. He added that he did not remember what he did afterwards.
After 710 days on remand, on 26 October 2005, Kaloyev was sentenced to eight years in federal prison. In 2007, he was paroled by the court, but the prosecution appealed the decision. On 23 August 2007, the court accepted the appeal, so that Kaloyev remained in prison. On 8 November 2007, Kaloyev was released from prison, because his mental condition was not sufficiently considered in the initial sentence.
Cultural references
American indie-rock / Americana band Delta SpiritDelta Spirit
Delta Spirit is a band from San Diego, California. The group combines unconventional instruments such as trash cans lids and orchestral bass drums, multi-instrumentalism and spiritually themed lyrics into a hybrid of rock and northern soul...
recorded the song Ballad of Vitaly, featured as the closing track on their 2010 album History From Below
History From Below
History From Below is the follow-up album to 2008's critically acclaimed Ode to Sunshine by San Diego's Delta Spirit. The album was released on June 8, 2010.The band began streaming "White Table" on its website, http://www.deltaspirit.net, on May 6....
, chronicling Kaloyev's story.
German futurepop band Edge of Dawn
Edge of Dawn
Edge of Dawn is a German futurepop band consisting of Mario Schumacher and Frank M. Spinath . Schumacher founded the band as a solo project in 1998. Spinath joined the project as vocalist in 2005. The duo's debut release, also in 2005, was the EP The Flight [Lux]...
alludes to Kaloyev's story and mentions his name in the song "The Flight (Lux)", which appears on their 2005 EP The Flight (Lux)
The Flight (Lux)
The Flight [Lux] is the debut EP by futurepop duo Edge of Dawn released in 2005. Several of the songs on this EP, such as "Descent", "The Flight", and "Elegance" would later be remixed and featured on their debut album Enjoy the Fall...
and later their full-length 2007 album Enjoy the Fall
Enjoy the Fall
Enjoy the Fall is the debut studio album by the Futurepop duo Edge of Dawn, released in 2007. Remixes of songs "The Flight [Lux]", "Descent", and "Elegance", from their debut EP The Flight , are featured on this album.-Track listing:...
.
External links
- Mördade – nu är han minister - AftonbladetAftonbladetAftonbladet is a Swedish tabloid founded by Lars Johan Hierta in 1830 during the modernization of Sweden. It is one of the larger daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. Aftonbladet is owned by the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and Norwegian media group Schibsted, and its editorial page...
(in Swedish) - Russia hails Vitaly Kaloyev a hero
- http://www.rso-a.ru/vlast/head/activity/detail.php?ID=1354