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In Perm Region, sentence issued over probe into death of mine workers

Evidence gathered by the Main Investigations Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia was found by the court to be sufficient to sentence Facility Chief of mine construction complex SKRU-3 Andrey Artyukhin; site No. 5 supervisor of the mine shaft SKRU-3 Maxim Kanishchev; mine foremen Andrey Kupryashkin and Igor Chukaev, and former labor protection engineer of category I of the US-30 company Svyatoslav Sedov. They were found guilty of violations of the industrial safety requirements for hazardous production facilities entailing by negligence the death of several persons (Part 3 of Article 217 of the Criminal Code of Russia).

At the daytime of December 22, 2018, the mine shaft under construction in Solikamsk District of Perm Territory started to smoke during the works. There were nine employees of a contractor entity blocked in the shaft who died in the fire. The investigation and the court established that, with the complicity of the perpetrators, the works in the shaft had been carried out with the use of prohibited gas welding equipment and propane. In this, the team performing the works had not had access to this kind of works, and its members had not been instructed on the safety standards. The violation of the procedure for organization and performance of firing works caused ignition.

In order to restore the whole picture of the accident, investigators and specialists examined the scene by going down the mine. Over 20 forensic examinations were arranged and carried out, including fire technical, labor safety, and other examinations. Their conclusions confirmed the guilt of the accused. A massive number of various documents that played a significant role in the establishment of the involvement of the perpetrators was seized and examined.

The court sentenced Artyukhin, Kanishchev, Kupryashkin, and Sedov to 4 years of imprisonment in a settlement colony, Chukaev to 3 years of imprisonment in a settlement colony.