News

Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia Ordered to Give Legal Evaluation of Injuries Citizens Suffered From Fall of Icings and Snow From Roofs in Some Regions

Injuries of citizens from fall of icings and snow from roofs, which were not cleaned in time, have become more frequent lately due to changes in weather conditions in some regions. The investigators in different regions are taking actions to inquire into circumstances of what happened, including actions to identify individuals responsible for timely roof cleaning.

Please be aware that public utilities and regional authorities need to ensure that roofs of buildings and structures are timely cleaned from icicles, snow and icings, passage of citizens is restricted in dangerous areas and the quality of cleaning and maintenance of buildings and structures is controlled. A failure to take these steps in case of consequences for citizens will entail criminal liability. For instance, a criminal case was opened over the death of a worker of the Kommunar paper mill in Leningrad Oblast on 7 February 2022 caused by fall of an ice chunk (Part 2, Article 143 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). In Moscow Oblast, the police investigates a criminal case regarding injuries of a woman, 35, and her two children aged 5 and 8 suffered from fall of icings from a roof of a house in Balashikha; in Novgorod Oblast, the police investigates a criminal case regarding fall of icings on a woman with a child in a stroller on 8 February 2022; in Samara Oblast, the police opened up a criminal case over injury of a woman, 52, from fall of icings from a roof of an apartment building; in Tula Oblast, the police investigates a criminal case regarding hospital admission of a girl, 10, with various injuries. All these cases constitute crimes set forth in Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Besides, the investigative authorities of the IC of Russia probe into other injuries of citizens: injuries of a woman, 90, of Yaroslavl, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War; fall of ice on a stroller in Leningrad Oblast; fall of icings on a child who by a happy chance was not harmed in Tver Oblast; hospital admission of a woman with a head injury in Smolensk Oblast; injury of a resident, 41, in Tula Oblast suffered from fall of an icing fragment near a shopping mall; fall of an icing fragment on a boy, 10, from a canopy of an extension to an apartment building. The investigative authorities launched probes in Saratov Oblast, Kirov Oblast, Novgorod Oblast and Moscow.

Remarkably, injuries of citizens from fall of snow and ice from the roofs of buildings in Saint Petersburg have also become more frequent over recent days. For instance, the investigate authorities of the MID of the IC of Russia for Saint Petersburg look into circumstances of injuries of a child from fall of ice from a roof of a building on a stroller in 4th Sovetskaya Street on 7 February. The police launched probes into other injuries of citizens in Krasnoselsky, Petrogradsky, Primorsky, Pushkinsky, Frunzensky districts of the city. Additionally, the investigative authorities of the IC of Russia for Saint Petersburg investigate a criminal case (Part 2, Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) over the death of a courtyard cleaner, 29, on 7 February 2022 and opened up a criminal case against the director of Relax LLC, a property management company, which cleaned snow and icings, over assault (Part 2, Article 318 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) on a law enforcement officer of the IC during the search.

Alexander Ivanovich Bastrykin ordered heads of the regional departments of the IC of Russia to give objective legal evaluation of actions of individuals responsible for timely snow cleaning as part of probes launched and criminal cases investigated and provide reports based on findings.

Besides, Chairman of the IC of Russia ordered A. S. Akhmetshin, Head of the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, to check details of fall of icings and snow from a roof of a house in Dzerzhinsk and provide a report. Mass media claimed that untimely cleaning of a roof of a house caused snow to fall near a passing woman and her child.

Chairman of the IC of Russia also ordered D. N. Chernyatyev, Head of the ID of the IC of Russia for the Republic of Bashkortostan, to report on media accounts of fall of snow near a family with a child in Ufa. Mass media claimed that a family managed to move away from snow falling from a roof and they were not harmed, but untimely cleaning of a roof by public utilities could have led to a tragedy.