The Chairman of the Russia’s investigative Committee has launched a criminal case against former judge of Nalchik city court in the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria Yelizaveta Botasheva. She is suspected of the crime under part 2 of article 305 of the RF Penal Code (passing a knowingly wrongful verdict by a judge inflicting other grave consequences).
According to investigators, on 12 April 2011, judge Botasheva, who at the time had the surname Bechelova, passed a decision on civil action to levy from the Russian Ministry of Finance at the expense of the treasury a total of 12 million rubles of moral damages to 8 people for the injuries they had got during the response operation to the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The decision entered into legal force and was executed. However, in August 2012, the Bechelova’s decision was cancelled by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria by court of review. This way, the judge passed a knowingly wrongful verdict as the law that were in power at the time of the accident in Chernobyl had not provided for paying moral damages. The law does not have the opposite power, therefore the plaintiffs cannot and could not pretend for the damages. When passing the verdict, judge Bechelova was aware that there were no legal grounds for it.
At present the investigators of the North-Caucasus Federal District Main Investigations Directorate of the Russia’s Investigative Committee are carrying out a number of investigating operations to find all the circumstances of the crime. The investigation is ongoing.
Head of Media Relations V.I. Markin
PDF version 
DOC version
