Russia's investigation committeó says pilots of a Russian airliner that crashed near Yaroslavl last year killing 44 people, had no right to fly.

      Vadim Timoveev, deputy head of the Yak-Service airline, the company which owned the crashed Yak-42, was in charge of flight operations and pilot training. According to the investigations, he allowed two pilots to fly the aircraft illegally, as they weren't experienced enough to have right to fly Yak-42. One of the pilots even had falsified documents about his flying training. Timoveef has been accused of the violation of air safety rules.

      44 people were killed instantly in the September 2011 crash, 36 players and officials from the Yaroslavl-based Lokomotiv hockey team among them. One player survived but died in hospital five days later.

      An official report last year said the pilots inadvertently applied the brake during take-off. Further investigations showed the both pilots were not fit for flying Yak-42 aircraft and one of them even had traces of a sedative drug in his blood. The pilot were named the main cuiprits of the crash. It took more time to reveal officials responsible for this tragedy.

      Yak-Service company was revoked a licence for flying two weeks after the crash. Now the company is practically shut.