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KEMEROVO, September 26The Kemerovo Regional Court approved prison terms for the defendants in the third case of the fire in “Winter Cherry”: the ex-head of the regional State Construction Supervision Authority Tanzila Komkova, her son Eduard Komkov, deputy Svetlana Shengerei and general director of the construction company that reconstructed the shopping center building, Nikita Cherednichenko.
As reported on the court’s website, appeals against the sentence passed by the Central District Court of Kemerovo were received both from the convicts and their defense attorneys, as well as from representatives of the victims. In December 2021, Komkova received 18 years in prison, Cherednichenko — 15 years, Komkov — 10 years, Shengerey — 7 years. The first three were also fined from 70 to 80 million rubles.
“The final punishment was imposed on Cherednichenko N.P. in the form of 15 years of imprisonment to be served in a maximum security correctional colony with a fine of 70,500,000 rubles, with restriction of freedom for a period of 1 year, with deprivation of the right to engage in activities related to the implementation of managerial functions in commercial organizations, for 10 years.The same sentence in terms of foreclosure on the seized property of the convicted N.P. Cherednichenko, T.K. Komkova, E.V. Komkova was canceled, the seizure of the property was maintained until the execution of the sentence in terms of the imposed fine. “The rest of the sentence of the Central District Court of Kemerovo dated December 20, 2021 was left unchanged, and the appeals were not satisfied,” the statement says.
The Kemerovo Regional Court slightly changed the verdict of the first instance — in particular, it excluded Cherednichenko from being sentenced to three years of deprivation of the right to engage in activities related to the implementation of organizational, administrative and economic functions in commercial organizations.
According to the investigation, in 2013-2014, Komkova, along with her son and Cherednichenko, received 7 million rubles from the developer — the general director of the Kemerovo Confectionery Plant (the building where the shopping center was located belonged to this particular factory). In return, she did not punish the company for violations during the reconstruction of the building.
When later violations during the reconstruction of the building were again revealed during an inspection, Komkova and her subordinate Shengerei also turned a blind eye to them. According to the investigation, Shengerei wrote in the inspection report that the building complied with all standards, and Komkova approved it.
After this, the shopping center building was put into operation with a non-functional fire extinguishing system and blocked exits for the emergency evacuation of visitors.
A fire in the four-story Winter Cherry shopping center occurred in Kemerovo on March 25, 2018 and became one of the most destructive in the history of Russia. The fire was located on the top floor, where several cinema halls and children's play areas with attractions were located. The fire killed 60 people, most of them children.
In total, the Investigative Committee investigated four cases of the fire in Winter Cherry. The Zavodsky and Central District Courts of Kemerovo sentenced all defendants to sentences ranging from 5 to 18 years in prison.