August 2, 2002	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 22,1423

RIYADH, Aug 1: Two Chechens who hijacked a Russian commercial airliner to Madina in March last year, have been sentenced to five and six years in prison, Russian Consul General Anwar Bek Fadlanov informed the press in Jeddah on Thursday.

A Russian hostess and a Turkish passenger died when the Saudi special forces stormed the plane on March 15 last year, a day after the aircraft, with 162 passengers on flight from Istanbul to Moscow, was hijacked by three men and forced to land in Madina.

The third hijacker, Soupian Arsaiev, was killed during the operation to free the passengers aboard the Vnoukovo Airlines plane.

Lerishkan Arsaiev and Deni Magomerzaiev, handed down prison sentences, hijacked the airliner when the Chechen movement against the Russian invasion was at its peak.