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Sentence imposed over a director of a nursing home where a fire killed 11 residents

The evidence collected by the Investigative Committee of Russia was found by court to be sufficient to sentence the head of autonomous non-commercial organization "Social Service Center "Nursing Home (House of Mercy)," where 11 people died in a fire. 

The woman was accused of committing an offence under Part 3 of Article 238 of the Criminal Code of Russia (rendering of services that do not meet safety standards entailing by negligence death of two or more persons). Previously, upon instruction of the Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia Alexander Bastrykin, the probe was transferred from the Bashkortostan Republican Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia to the Main Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia for further investigation.

The investigation and the court established that from beginning of 2018 to December 2020 the accused, having organized a nursing home in Ishbuldino village of Abzelilovsky District of the Republic of Bashkortostan, provided unsafe social services for the care, housing, feeding and home care of at least 14 elderly residents. She was aware that the private home she was using did not meet the fire safety requirements for social service organizations for the elderly and disabled, of which she had been warned by officials of the Ministry of Emergency Situations during an inspection of the premises, but despite this she continued to use it without eliminating the violations that had been revealed. The house lacked a fire safety system, an evacuation exit, and there were violations in the operation of electric heating appliances.

The said violations led to a fire that occurred in the nursing home on December 15, 2020 and killed 11 elderly residents.

The court sentenced the woman to 3 years of imprisonment in a general regime penal colony. She was also given an additional punishment in the form of deprivation of the right to engage in activities to provide social services to citizens for two years.