The investigative bodies of the Investigative Committee of Russia for Sverdlovskaya oblast have finalized the investigative actions in a criminal case against 7 citizens - six men, born in 1967-1987 and one woman, born in 1957. Depending on the role of each, they are accused of committing crimes in accordance with Part 3, Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (storage, transportation or sale of goods and products that do not meet safety requirements, resulting in the death of two or more persons through negligence), Article 171.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (illicit traffic of ethyl alcohol, alcoholic and alcohol-containing products) and Article 171.4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (illicit retail sale of alcoholic and alcohol-containing food products).

According to the investigation, between summer 2020 and autumn 2021, the mentioned above persons, acting in various ways (i.e., as product suppliers, intermediaries and direct sellers), were involved in the illicit circulation of alcohol-containing products, where the final consumers were individual residents of the Yekaterinburg city. The defendants systematically arranged the acquisition, storage and sale of alcohol-containing products to consumers, violating the legislation where the rules for mentioned above actions are regimented. Until September 2021, the scheme for the illegal circulation of alcohol created by the defendants did not give any failures, because they purchased and sold products that did not contain a critical amount of toxic impurities. However, in September 2021, they launched into illegal circulation a batch of alcohol containing methanol in a concentration exceeding the norm of 0.05%, that is, dangerous to human life and health. The exact sale of the mentioned above products, which did not meet the requirements for the safety of life and health of consumers, led to fatal consequences in the way of deaths of citizens. According to investigators, 51 people suffered from the use of this substandard product, 44 of whom died.

The Investigative Committee, with the operational support of officers of the regional directorate of the Federal Security Service for Sverdlovskaya oblast, the regional Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for Yekaterinburg, has collected a sufficient evidence base. Currently the final proceedings are performed.