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The Russia’s Investigative Committee continues establishing circumstances of the fire that happened at the Admiral shopping center and the guilt of everyone involved in the tragedy. As it was assumed there was a whole chain of violations that led to such grave consequences. We have identified a number of people responsible for fire safety breaches and those among fire control authorities who deliberately shut their eyes to those violations.

CEO of OAO Investment Construction Company and ZAO Facility Manager AS Management Robert Khayrullin has been charged with crimes under part 3 of article 219 of the RF Penal Code (violation of fire safety, entailing death of two or more people by negligence), part 2 of article 201 (abuse of office entailing grave consequences), part 1 of article 327 (forgery of an ID or any other official entitling document or such dispensing from duties for the purpose of using such a document or selling it), part 3 of article 238 (providing work or services not meeting life or health safety standards entailing death of two or more people by negligence).

According to investigators, for the purpose of getting profit from demising shopping capacities, in 2014, Khayrullin and chairman of board of directors of ZAO Facility Manager AS Management Semin bought 4 properties in Klara Tsetkin street, which before having been reconstructed had housed production facilities of ZAO Serp i Molot. In 2008, Khayrullin issued a resolution to unite all 4 workshops in a single building to be used as a shopping center. The man did not provide any information on the reconstruction and therefore later filed false data on the property with Technical Inventory Bureau and Tatarstan Office of the Federal Service for State Registration, Cadaster and Cartography. In January 2009, Khayrullin received a technical passport and a cadaster passport of the property which then entitled him to register his ownership on the property as a shopping center. Besides, under the contract of lease of non-residential facility the owners demised it to OOO Zarya to be operated as the Admiral shopping center.

This way, since 2013, the property holding a large number of people has been operated illegally as a shopping center with gross violations of fire safety rules and without permission to have been reconstructed.

Besides Tatarstan investigating bodies of the Russia’s Investigative Committee have detained Zhanna Alparova, the head of inter-district bailiffs’ office for special enforcement proceedings of Tatarstan Office of the Federal Bailiffs’ Service. She is suspected of a crime under part 4 of article 33, paragraph “c” of part 3 of article 286 of the RF Penal Code (solicitation of abuse of authority entailing grave consequences).

According to investigators, in 2013, a check by the prosecutor’s office on following by OOO Zarya fire safety rules in operation of the Admiral shopping center revealed a lot of violations. Following the check an action was filed with a court requesting elimination of the said violations, which was them satisfied. Later Alparova gave an illegal order to her inferior an executor Minzilya Safina to finish the enforcement proceeding on OOO Zarya in connection with its alleged actual execution. But Alparova was aware that the violations remained in place. On 12 November 2013, the enforcement proceeding was finished. A repeated check in 2014, revealed that over half of the violations remained in place. The prosecutor’s office made a protest and resumed the proceeding against OOO Zarya.

The investigators are going to request a court to put her under restraint pending trial.

In addition, following a request of investigators a court has ruled to place former executor of inter-district department of the regional Office of the Federal Bailiffs Service Minzilya Safina, 25 under house arrest.

The investigation is ongoing. At present there are 11 people being prosecuted. The investigators think it possible for the circle of the defendants to widen and we are sure that all those responsible for the tragedy will not escape justice. This has to be a lesson and warning for all businessmen who in their chase after profits disregard safety measures and for officials who voluntarily and not let that happen. All of them have to realize a tragedy a seemingly unimportant violation of rules may lead to. And for that they will have to answer to the fullest extent of the law.