In the Sverdlovsk region, the defendants in the case of an accident with eight dead were sentenced

The Lesnoy City Court (Sverdlovsk Region) has sentenced the defendants in a high-profile criminal case of an accident with eight dead. The press service of the prosecutor’s office of the Sverdlovsk region reported that the bus driver who had an accident was sentenced to four years in prison under an article on traffic violations, which negligently resulted in the death of more than two people (part 5 of article 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). However, the court, due to mitigating grounds (part 2 of article 62 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), replaced the punishment with four years of forced labor. The director of Nizhneturinsky ATP was sentenced to one year of restriction of freedom under Part 1 of Art. 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Provision of services that do not meet the requirements of consumer health safety”).

The incident that formed the basis of the criminal case took place early in the morning on June 10, 2021 in Lesnoy ZATO. As the investigation established, the passenger bus of the Nizhneturinskoye ATP company was driving along Kalinin Street to the Gorny settlement. Due to a malfunction in the brake system, the bus driver was unable to slow down and did not make a turn, as required by the route plan. As a result, he lost control.

The bus rammed the gates of the Elektrokhimpribor plant (part of the state corporation Rosatom), drove into the enterprise, knocking down pedestrians, many of whom were going to work. Eight people died from their injuries. Ten people, including passengers on the bus, were injured to varying degrees.

The police noted that “in this terrible accident, the number of dead and injured could be much higher.” “There were more than 40 passengers in the passenger compartment of the uncontrolled bus. All of them, in an emergency, after the conductor’s command, grouped up and took hold of the handrails, ”said Valery Gorelykh, head of the press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Sverdlovsk Region.

A criminal case on the release into operation of a technically faulty vehicle (part 3 of article 266 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) was also initiated against the mechanic of Nizhneturinsk Tour Transagency LLC. It was separated into a separate proceeding due to the illness of the defendant.

Ilya Smirnov, Yekaterinburg