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The Chairman of the Investigative Committee intends to personally address the Prosecutor General about the acquittal by the court in the case of sexual abuse of children in an orphanage

Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia completed the investigation into the criminal case against the former director of school No. 565 in Kirovsky District of St Petersburg, Stanislav Vinogradov, former deputy director of the orphanage Mikhail Yelin, former pupils and students of the school Pavel Prikashchikov, Kirill Pokalyuka and Andrei Solovyev in December 2018. Depending on their roles, they were each charged with offences under Article 132 of the Criminal Code (violent acts of a sexual nature). Investigators established 23 cases of violent acts committed by the accused against children in the Family Upbringing Support Centre No 8 orphanage from 2002 to 2017.

Despite the collected evidence, the Kirov District Court of St. Petersburg acquitted five defendants in a criminal case involving sexual abuse of children in an orphanage due to lack of evidence on 29 December 2021. The defendants were released from custody in the courtroom. Alexander Ivanovich Bastrykin, Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, intends to personally address the Prosecutor General of Russia, noting the need to appeal against the acquittal verdict as soon as possible and outlining the principled position of the Investigative Committee of Russia in the criminal case.