The Main Investigations Directorate of the Russia’s Investigative Committee continues familiarizing the accused with the materials of the criminal case over an explosion at the Ulyanovskaya mine in the Kemerovo Region, which took place in March 2007 and killed 110 people. The mine director Andrei Funk, shiftman Yuri Pimenov, mechanic of ventilation part and safety engineering Gennady Krasko, foreman and electricians of this part Oleg Kozyavin, Denis but and Oleg Sobakin are charged with a crime under part 3 of article 217 of the RF Criminal Code (violation of safety rules in explosive facilities or in explosives shops involving by negligence death of two or more persons). Head of Kuybyshev mine technical department Sergey Sleptsov and state inspectors of this department Alexander Kostromin and Igor Dmitriyev are charged with a crime under part 3 of article 293 of the RF Criminal Code (negligence involving death of two or more persons).
We remind that in the afternoon of 19 March 2007, a methane explosion occurred at a coal mine in Novokuznetsk district, the Kemerovo Region. 110 miners, who were underground at the time, died of wounds, thermal scolds and poisoning of carbon monoxide, 7 more were wounded. The accident was caused by the fact that the leadership of the mine in the period between June 2006 and the moment of explosion ignored the safety requirements for mine works in order to fulfill the program. Despite the every-day dangerous concentration of methane and coal dust, the miners continued their job under the threat of sacking or reduced bonuses. The explosion and such serious consequences took place due to the fact that head and employees Kuybyshev mine technical department of the Kemerovo Region Office of Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Atomic Supervision Sleptsov, Kostromin and Dmitriyev did not carried out proper state mine supervision over observance of safety requirements at this dangerous enterprise, did not timely prevented the abovementioned violations of safety requirements and rules to fight coal dust, concentration of which was so high that allowed explosions spread through a net of mines in places where there was no dangerous amount of methane making the accident worse and the number of victims bigger.
After the investigating operations had been finished, the victims, the accused and their defenders started studying 209 volumes of the criminal case. Despite the fact that investigators created all convenient conditions for free access to the materials of the case, the accused Dmitriyev, Sleptsov and Funk and their lawyers deliberately delayed the process of studying. In connection with the fact that deliberate delay of the process of studying the case violates the right of other accused on the access to justice in reasonable time limits and prevents 115 victims from implementing their right on judicial protection and settlement of damages resulting from the crime, the Main Investigations Directorate of the Russia’s Investigative Committee has filed a motion to limit the time of studying the case. Granting the motion the court has set the time limit for the three accused and their lawyers until 31 January 2013. After the studying is finished the case will be sent for the indictment to be approved and later to the court to be tried on the merits.
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