{"id":192291,"date":"2026-09-28T12:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T12:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/?p=192291"},"modified":"2026-09-29T11:15:41","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T11:15:41","slug":"french-court-finds-swiftair-guilty-of-involuntary-manslaughter-over-2014-mali-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/2026\/09\/french-court-finds-swiftair-guilty-of-involuntary-manslaughter-over-2014-mali-crash.html","title":{"rendered":"French Court Finds Swiftair Guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter Over 2014 Mali Crash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Paris Criminal Court has convicted Spanish airline Swiftair<\/strong> of corporate involuntary manslaughter in connection with the crash of an Air Alg\u00e9rie flight in northern Mali in 2014, which claimed 116 lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judicial Ruling by the Paris Criminal Court<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Following a three-week trial held earlier this year, the French judiciary established the corporate criminal liability of the Spanish company that owned the McDonnell Douglas MD-83 aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the onset of the legal proceedings, Swiftair attempted to halt the trial by arguing that a court in Spain had already dismissed the case; however, French magistrates rejected the motion and imposed the maximum fine of \u20ac225,000 for involuntary manslaughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S\u00e9bastien Busy, a lawyer representing a group of victims’ families, told Reuters: “This verdict brings relief to the families who have been fighting for more than twelve years to see justice done. The families now expect Swiftair to take responsibility and accept this ruling.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technical and Operational Flight Factors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Air Alg\u00e9rie Flight AH5017, wet-leased and operated by Swiftair, crashed less than an hour after taking off from Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, en route to Algiers. The impact with the terrain resulted in the instantaneous death of all occupants on board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2192 KLM Boeing 777 Incident: Power Bank Fire Forces Flight Return to Amsterdam<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technical investigations established the following findings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n