The defendants in the case of the death of people during an underground walk along Neglinka were convicted

In Moscow, on April 28, the court sentenced the case of a deadly tour of the Neglinka underground river in Moscow, which in August 2023 took away the lives of eight people. The founder of the SPUTNIK8 excursion service, Alexander Kim received five and a half years of the colony, one of the organizers of the event, Nikita Dubas-eight and a half years. The victims – the relatives of the dead – they must pay a total of 14 million rubles.

At the announcement of the verdict in the case of a citizen of Kazakhstan, Alexander Kim and Nikita Dubas, the meeting room in the Meshchansky district court of the capital was almost filled: in addition to a large number of journalists, about a dozen victims – relatives of the victims during the excursion. Seven claims were filed against the defendants on compensation for damage to various amounts, the largest, As previously reported by Kommersantamounted to a little more than 10 million rubles. The defenders at the final meeting were not attended by everyone, the lawyer Denis Krokhmal, who came with Alexander Kim Victoria de. Recall that at the very beginning of the process, she petitioned for participation in the proceedings as a defender of her husband, but was refused.

Alexander Kim and Nikitas Dubas of the GSU of the Investigative Committee charged with the provision of services that did not meet the safety requirements that entailed by negligence the death of two or more persons (part 3 of article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, up to ten years in prison).

The tragedy, we recall It happened August 20, 2023. On that day, despite the warnings of weather forecasters about the impending storm, a group of seven people, led by 32-year-old guide, Konstantin Filippov, at 15 o’clock went on an hour’s walk in the underground capital. They went down down the hatch on Durov Street. In the Neglinka area, participants in the walk could not get out of the collector, since the water completely flooded the drain. All eight people died.

Both defendants Arrested On August 23, since then, the preventive measure has not changed. According to the state prosecution, Alexander Kim and Nikita Dubas in 2019 entered into a conspiracy to make a profit by conducting excursions in Moscow without compliance with the established requirements. Alexander Kim created the online booking service of excursions Sputnik8.com (belongs to the satellite LLC), Nikita Dubas placed ads on tips for Neglinka, the cost of which usually amounted to 4-8 thousand rubles, both at Sputnik8.com and two more portals-the Avangard guide (belongs to LLC. “Avangard”) and PresentStar.ru (belongs to Tripster). Note that the general director of the Avangard Alexander Lazovskaya went abroad and was put on the wanted list.

Based on the case materials, during an underground excursion, the organizers did not follow several important security rules at once. In particular, the route plan was not marked on the surface of the Earth, respectively, hatches were not defined, through which people who were below in case of danger, and the excursionists themselves did not have information. In addition, the participants in the underground walk were not equipped with walkie-talkies that would coordinate actions in the case of force majeure. Also, people underground did not have mandatory oxygen cylinders.

Finally, the organizers of the excursions did not notify rescue services. All this in the end, according to the prosecution, led to human victims.

Nikita Dubas partially pleaded guilty, Alexander Kim did not admit at all. “I am the owner of the aggregator,” he said. “He never organized any excursions, but only posted ads on excursions. Accordingly, he did not enter into any conspiracy with anyone, because such a collusion did not have any goal.  » In the debate of the parties, the Prosecutor General’s Office demanded for Nikita Dubas nine years of colony, six years for Alexander Kim. As a result, the court gave everyone six months less. At the same time, all seven claims of the victims were partially satisfied – for each, 2 million rubles were awarded. After the announcement of the court decision, lawyer Denis Krokhmal said that he would appeal him after studying the full text of the sentence.

Alexey Sokovnin