MOSCOW, October 16 The Basmanny Court of Moscow granted the investigation's request and extended the arrest of the general director of the Sputnik tourist aggregator Alexander Kim and the organizer of excursions around Moscow underground collectors Nikita Dubas in the case of the death of eight people, a correspondent reports from the courtroom.
“Extend the arrest of Kim and Dubas until January 21, 2024,” announced Judge Evgenia Nikolaeva.
Motivating his petition, the investigator said that medical examinations had been ordered and information had been requested from credit institutions, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and the hydrometeorological center. “Some of the requests have not yet received answers,” he explained.
The accused's defense attorneys asked for a more lenient preventive measure.
The defendants were charged under Part 1 of Art. 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (provision of services that do not meet the requirements for the safety of life and health of consumers, resulting in the death of two or more people). Both pleaded not guilty. Also in the case, the court arrested in absentia the director of Avangard LLC, Alexander Lazovsky.
According to the investigation, on August 20, a guide led a group of seven people on a tour of the underground sewer of the Neglinka River in Moscow. At this time a heavy rain began. The collector was flooded, all participants in the event died.
The Russian Union of Tourism Industry (RST) stated that bringing charges against Kim in this case contradicts the general meaning of Part 1 of Art. 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, as well as “actual and economic relations emerging in the tourism market.” Letters signed by RST President Ilya Umansky, sent to Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov and Chairman of the RF Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin, indicated that the Sputnik company, as an aggregator, connected consumers and the excursion organizer, sold tickets, but “should not be held responsible for incidents , which may occur during the excursion itself.»