Former NATO liaison to testify in new chapter of Yak inquiry

A former joint chiefs of staff liaison to NATO has been formally named as a target in the High Court's ongoing investigation into the 2003 Yak-42 military air disaster, in which 62 Spanish soldiers on an Afghan mission lost their lives.

On the request of the victims' families, Judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska has subpoenaed Lieutenant Colonel Abraham Ruiz López to testify on Thursday as the investigation continues into Spain's worst military tragedy during peace time.

This marks the first time that another official has been implicated in the case since 2008, when the High Court formally named five other top military officers as targets.

Family members for the deceased soldiers say that Ruiz López's testimony is crucial because he will be able to explain a number of key points in the case, such as why the military didn't take out life insurance on all of the passengers on the aircraft, as well as shedding light as to why a Russian plane was chartered to transport the soldiers instead of a Western-made jet.

He is also expected to be able to clarify the situation regarding a series of complaints that had been made by the Spanish military — as well as the military from a number of other countries — over the use of this type of aircraft.

The Yak-42 plane, owned by Ukrainian Mediterranean Airlines (UMA), crashed in Turkey on May 26, 2003, killing the 62 Spanish soldiers and 12 Ukrainian flight crew that were on board.

Body scandal

The tragedy of the Yak case soon turned into a political scandal when it was later discovered that half of the bodies of the Spanish military personnel were not properly identified. They were handed over to the wrong families as the result of a botched effort by the then Popular Party-led government to speed up the autopsy process in Turkey so that the corpses could be sent back to Spain in time for a state funeral, which was held in Madrid.

In May 2009, General Vicente Navarro was sentenced to three years in jail for his part in the affair, while two junior officers- Major José Ramírez and Captain Miguel Sáez- were each given 18 months for complicity in putting the wrong names on the unidentifiable bodies.