ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
March 18, 2005

Australian detained in Moscow airport may be fined or jailed

MOSCOW

Legal proceedings have been instituted against an Australian for
Thursday’s incident on the Tokyo-Moscow flight. The proceedings are
instituted under the article on “giving information known to be false
about an act of terror,” the Sheremetyevo airport police department
told Itar-Tass.

The detained passenger is identified. He is Simon Talityan, a
29-year-old Australian citizen of Armenian origin, who flew via
Moscow to Yerevan to his brother.

The crew commander reported to an air traffic controller not long
before the landing at Moscow that one of the passengers attempted to
break through to the cockpit, threatening to blow up the airliner.

When the plane landed, Sheremetyevo airport security service officers
and police detained the offender right aboard the plane.

Talityan was heavily drunk. He is detained and held in the airport
detention ward.

The false terrorist, who made the passengers and crew experience
unpleasant moments, may be fined a considerable sum or sentenced up
to three years.

The Australian Foreign Ministry confirmed on Friday that the
passenger was an Australian citizen.

The Australian Embassy in Moscow said it would render consular
assistance to the citizen.

Australian diplomats said it was really an Australian citizen, a
resident of Sydney. He attempted to get into the cockpit, threatening
to blow up the plane.

To render consular assistance to the Australian citizen, the embassy
maintains constant contact with appropriate structures investigating
the incident.

The embassy has given no comments so far on causes and motives of the
passenger’s actions.