On April 14, the Nevsky District Court of St. Petersburg sent to the pre-trial detention center the deputy head of the Nevskaya Manufactory, where there was a major fire, Alexei Mikhnevich.
“The court considers that the investigator’s petition is justified <...> to elect Mikhnevich Alexei Dmitrievich a preventive measure in the form of detention for a period of two months, until June 11,” – TASS reports the words of judge Tatyana Mikhailova.
Mikhnevich’s lawyer Maksim Sobolev said after the meeting that he would appeal the decision on detention.
According to the investigation, remaining at large, Mikhnevich may hide or put pressure on witnesses, as well as destroy the documentation of the Nevskaya Manufactory.
According to the lawyer, the arguments of the investigation are untenable, he said that Mikhnevich himself appeared to the investigators, and also said that he considered it possible to choose a measure of restraint for him in the form of house arrest. According to Sobolev, the documents of the Nevskaya Manufactory were burnt in the fire.
Earlier on the same day, the court imprisoned Maksim Makeev, general director of Nevskaya Manufactory, for two months.
The fire in the building of the “Nevskaya Manufactory” became known on April 12. The fire was assigned the maximum fifth grade of difficulty. Among the versions of the fire are called a short circuit in the electrical room and arson.
The city administration of the Ministry of Emergency Situations said that the owners of the building did not eliminate the fire safety violations identified a month ago in due time.
On the fact of the incident, one criminal case was initiated under Part 1 of Art. 109 of the Criminal Code of Russia (“Causing death by negligence”), the other – under clause “c” part 2 of Art. 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Performance of work or provision of services that do not meet the requirements of the safety of life and health of consumers, resulting in the death of a person by negligence”).
As a result of the emergency, the commander of the department of the 64th fire rescue unit died, three more firefighters were injured. Two of them were hospitalized in critical condition, they were put into a drug-induced coma. The third rescuer received minor hand burns.