KEMEROVO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th October, 2021) Eight people found guilty of the deadly fire in the Zimnyaya Vishnya ("Winter Cherry") shopping mall in the Siberian city of Kemerovo were sentenced on Friday to 5 to 14 years in jail, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the courtroom.
The fire in Zimnyaya Vishnya broke out on March 25, 2018, killing 60 people including 37 children who were trapped inside the cinema and other entertainment facilities at the top of the building. As many as 15 people, including former officials responsible for construction and operation of the building, were arrested during investigation of 4 criminal cases over the tragedy.
The head of Kemerovo Confectionery Plant that managed Zimnyaya Vishnya, Yulia Bogdanova, technical director Georgy Sobolev and the manager of Zimnyaya Vishnya Nadezhda Suddenok were sentenced to 14, 11, and 13.5 years, respectively, for rendering unsafe services resulting in more than two deaths and breaching fire security resulting in more than two deaths.
The head and the employee of the System Integrator company providing maintenance to the mall's fire alarm system, Igor Polozinenko and Alexander Nikitin, got 6.5-year and 5.5-year sentences, respectively, for breaching fire security standards resulting in more than two deaths.
A security guard at the mall, Sergey Antyushin, was sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment for not switching on the fire alarm system.
Fire service unit heads, Sergey Genin and Andrei Bursin, were sentenced to 5 and 6 years in jail, respectively, for negligence in managing fire crews while extinguishing the blaze.
