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Terms of punishment for the defendants in another criminal case related to the tragedy in the " Zimnaya Vishnya" shopping mall were announced

The evidence gathered by the Investigative Committee of Russia was found by the court to be sufficient to sentence the head of the Kemerovo Region State Construction Supervision Inspection Tanzila Komkova and her son Eduard Komkov; deputy head of the Kemerovo Region State Construction Supervision Inspection Svetlana Shengerei and general director of ISK Resurs LLC Nikita Cherednichenko. Depending on the role of each of them, they were found guilty of committing offenses provided for by Part 6 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code, Part 3 of Article 285 of the Criminal Code, Paragraph B of Part 4 of Article 174.1 of the Criminal Code (bribery, abuse of power, legalization of money or other property acquired by a person as a result of committing a crime).

The investigation and the court found that in 2013-2014, Komkova together with her son and Cherednichenko received 7 million rubles as a bribe for illegal actions and omissions in carrying out the functions of state construction and fire supervision in the reconstruction of the second stage of the "Zimnaya Vishnya" shopping center in Kemerovo city. The illegally received money at the direction of Komkova was transferred by the briber to ISK Resurs LLC under an imaginary contract for the provision of services, and then cashed by Cherednichenko. This allowed the reconstruction of the shopping center without a construction permit and in violation of the approved project, which called for the installation of automatic fire-extinguishing systems on all floors of the building, which was not done. The deputy head of the inspection Svetlana Shengerei abused her power by drawing up an act of inspection, which contained unreliable information about the work performed. Komkova, in turn, ignored the presence of gross violations of fire safety. All of this actually predetermined the tragedy that happened in 2018 and took the lives of 60 people, including children.

During the preliminary investigation, a team of over a hundred investigators reconstructed the events of March 25, 2018, minute by minute, and found the causes that led to dozens of victims in the fire at the Winter Cherry shopping mall. In particular, the investigation revealed multiple violations in the construction of the building and facts of neglect of fire safety rules by the owner of the complex and some of its employees. It is clear that when conducting inspections and issuing documents confirming the compliance of the reconstructed building with construction rules and norms, Gosstroinadzor employees overlooked many things. As a result of a thorough analysis of all the circumstances of what happened, the investigation has clearly identified the circle of individuals whose wrong actions and incompetent decisions led to the deaths of people.

The court sentenced Komkova to 18 years imprisonment and Shengeray to 7 years imprisonment to be served in a general regime penal colony with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions. In addition, Komkova was sentenced to a fine of 80 million rubles.

Cherednichenko was sentenced to 15 years and Komkov to 10 years in a strict regime penal colony. In addition, the perpetrators were sentenced to penalties of 70, 5 and 70 million rubles, respectively. Cherednichenko is also deprived of the right to engage in certain activities.

In addition, earlier verdicts were passed against Nadezhda Suddenok, Yulia Bogdanova, Georgy Sobolev, Igor Polozinenko, Alexander Nikitin, Sergei Antyushin, Sergei Genin and Andrei Bursin. All of them were found guilty of the incriminated offences.  

The court is considering criminal cases against Alexander Mamontov, head of the Main Directorate of EMERCOM of Russia in the Kemerovo region, and Grigory Terentyev, head of the territorial department of supervisory activity and preventive work of the territorial department of EMERCOM. Depending on the role of each of them are accused of committing crimes under Part 3 of Article 293 and Part 4 of Article 160 of the Criminal Code. Also the court is examining a criminal case against the General Director of OJSC "Kemerovo Confectionery Factory" Vyacheslav Vishnevsky, accused under Part 5 of Article 291 of the Criminal Code.

Having investigated these criminal cases, the Investigative Committee has brought to criminal responsibility all the individuals whose actions or inactions predetermined the tragedy in Zimnaya Vishnya, and are also causally linked to the consequences of this fire.