The prosecutor requested two years in a penal colony for the defendants in the case of infection of cadets of the Ulyanovsk Suvorov School parasitic disease echinococcosis. This is reported by the human rights project «Axioma».
Since February, the case has been re-examined in the Leninsky District Court of Ulyanovsk — for the first time in 2021, the materials were returned to the prosecutor's office due to violations of the requirements of the Code of Criminal Procedure in the indictment.
The defendants are the school's process engineer Marina Kondyurina and the production manager of the SPP Trading House contractor Tatyana Suchkova, who supplied the products. They are accused of violating safety requirements (paragraph “c” of Part 2 of Article 238 of the Criminal Code).
The outbreak became known in early 2019 after a routine fluorography at the school, one of the cadets was then diagnosed with parasitic cysts. The number of victims subsequently increased to 74 people: the health of three cadets was seriously harmed, and the rest suffered moderate damage.
According to the UK, students of the school became infected with echinococcus larvae in the fall of 2017 due to poorly washed “fruits, vegetables or greens”. Echinococcosis can be asymptomatic for years. Cadet Ildar Nurtdinov told Novaya Gazeta that there were dirty tables and dishes in the dining room, they often found hair in food, and traces of dirt on fruits.
«There are never 100% guarantees.» Meeting of representatives of the Ministry of Defense with parents of Ulyanovsk Suvorov students
At a meeting with parents after the outbreak was discovered in 2019, the management of the institution explained the infection by “mass contact” of cadets with a dog and “non-observance of personal hygiene rules”. Izvestia at the same time, citing a source, claimed that the cadets were infected through nasvay. The head of the school, Vladimir Shkirkov, told Simbirsk.city that after the publication of this article, bags with nasvay were found on their territory. An epidemiologist recruited by the Ministry of Defense denied Izvestia's version.
Sergey Kondrev, director of SPP Trading House, told Radio Liberty that their contract with the school ended shortly before the outbreak was discovered, in December 2018. After that, the Pishchevik company, which is part of the Concord group of companies owned by businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, began to be responsible for food. Representatives of the military prosecutor's office during the investigation called «intentional actions of third parties to contaminate food» as one of the versions; soon abandoned it.