News

The Head Office of the Investigative Committee has finished criminal proceedings against heads of Shira District Sergei Zaitsev and Shira Soviet of the settlement Yuri Kovalyov and chief of unit No 7 of the Khakassia Fire Service Viktor Zenkov. They are charged with negligence entailing death of people and massive destructions due to wildfires in 2015 under Part 3 of Article 293 of the RF Criminal Code.

According to investigators, despite their duties Zaitsev and Kovalyov failed to ensure that fire safety, civil defense and emergency situations protection laws were followed in the settlement of Shira, while Zenkov failed to see that wildfires were put out which ended up in their mass spreading on 12 April 2015. The fires killed 12 people, while 54 more were injured in the settlement of Shira. more than 1 thousand physical and legal entities suffered considerable pecuniary damage.

More than 150 forensic examinations were run during the investigation, more than 1,000 witnesses and victims were questioned. The investigator restored the full picture of the criminal negligence of the accused and collected enough evidence against them.

Prosecutor has signed the indictment.

Investigation in mass fires in other municipalities of Khakassia continues. The investigators are looking into all the circumstances surrounding the wildfires that claimed lives of some people and injured others and did multibillion damage.

Official spokesperson for the RF Investigative Committee                                                                        S. Petrenko