'I don't trust French justice' - Brazilian families of AF447 crash victims face trial opening

Record ID: 1692457

  • Title: 'I don't trust French justice' - Brazilian families of AF447 crash victims face trial opening
  • Date: 10th October 2022
  • Summary: MARINHO IN FRONT OF RELATIVES ASSOCIATION OF VICTIMS OF FLIGHT AF447 SIGN READING (Portuguese): "Relatives Association of Victims of Flight 447" (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) FATHER OF AF447 FLIGHT'S VICTIM, NELSON MARINHO, SAYING: "I don't trust French justice. I've never believed in French justice as the French government is very corporative, (so French) justice is corporativ
  • Embargoed: 24th October 2022 21:56
  • Keywords: Accident Airbus Airfrance Brazil Court Crash Trial
  • Location: RIO DE JANEIRO, RECIFE, BRASILIA, BRAZIL
  • City: RIO DE JANEIRO, RECIFE, BRASILIA, BRAZIL
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions,South America / Central America
  • Reuters ID: LVA002131610102022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Brazilian relatives of victims of Air France's AF447 flight that crashed in 2009 faced on Monday (October 10) the historic manslaughter trial opening in Paris against the French airline and planemaker Airbus, 13 years after the accident that killed 228 people.
    The father of one of the victims and president of the Relatives Association of Victims of Flight 447 in Rio de Janeiro, Nelson Faria Marinho, said he doesn't trust French justice as France has vested interests in its national companies Air France and Airbus.
    Air France flight AF447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris plowed in the Atlantic on June 1, 2009. Everyone on board the A330 jetliner was killed.
    After a two-year search for the A330's black boxes using remote submarines, investigators found pilots had responded clumsily to a problem involving iced-up speed sensors and lurched into a freefall without responding to "stall" alerts.
    But France's BEA accident agency also revealed earlier discussions between Air France and Airbus about growing problems with external "pitot probes" that generate the speed readings.
    The heads of both companies pleaded not guilty to "involuntary manslaughter.”
    The relative roles of pilot and sensor will be key to the trial, exposing bitter divisions that have raged behind the scenes between two of France's flagship firms for over a decade.
    The nine-week trial at Paris Criminal Court runs until December 8.
    (Production: Sergio Queiroz, Anna Portella)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2022. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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