The Tatarstan investigating bodies of the Russia’s Investigative Committee continue investigating a criminal case opened in a fire in the Admiral shopping center, a crime under part 2 of article 219 of the RF Penal Code (breach of fire safety requirements entailing death of a person by negligence).
In the afternoon of 11 March 2015, a fire 18.2 thousand square meters in area started at the Admiral shopping center in the city of Kazan. According to the latest data 26 people were injured and 14 were killed in the fire: 10 of them were found under the debris and 4 died at hospital.
A fire train and an Emergencies Ministry helicopter are deployed to deal with the fire. 650 people were evacuated, 250 of them are the staff. About 15 people may be trapped under the rubble. An investigative team was set up to include the most experienced investigators and criminalists of the regional investigative committee.
The investigation is considering the following theories as the main causes of the fire: there was a short circuit in a perfume shop; arson by competitors of other shopping centers in Kazan; reckless handling of fire; fire safety breach committed by a person in charge of fire safety and lack of oversight by officials and operation of a building unfit for any selling activity.
On 12 March, the investigators detained CEO of OOO Zarya Guseyn Gakhramanov, 30, who is a leaseholder of the Admiral shopping center. During the questioning he told that there had been a fire check in 2013 that had revealed a lot of violations which later were not eliminated. The shopping center had about 1,274 shops for which sublessees paid between 15 and 30 thousand rubles of rent each month. The man refused to make any statements referring to article 51 of the Russian Constitution. A court today will consider a request to place Gakhramanov in custody filed by the investigators.
It should be noted that there is a probe against an executor of inter-district department of the regional Office of the Federal Bailiffs Service Minzilya Safina. She is suspected of a crime under part 3 of article 293 of the RF Penal Code (negligence).
The investigators have assigned biological (DNA tests) and fire technical forensic inquiries. Other necessary investigative operations are underway to find out all the circumstances of the fire. The investigation in fire safety breaches and negligence that resulted in deaths of people is ongoing.
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