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Chief of company owning Kemerovo shopping mall detained — Investigative Committee

The chief of the company owning the Zimnyaya Vishnya shopping mall in Kemerovo, Julia Bogdanova was detained on March 30

© Maxim Grigoriev/TASS

MOSCOW, March 30. /TASS/. Director general of Kemerovo Confectionery Factory, the owner of the Zimnyaya Vishnya shopping mall in Kemerovo, Julia Bogdanova was detained on Friday. She will be charged under part 3 of Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Violation of fire safety requirements that caused the death of two or more persons) in the near future, the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

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"Today director general of OJSC Kemerovo Confectionery Factory Julia Bogdanova was detained. This company owned the building of the shopping mall where a fire broke out on March 25, taking lives of people. The investigation determined that being responsible for fire safety provision, Bogdanova was repeatedly informed by her subordinates about failures of the fire security system of the building," the statement said.

Bogdanova took no measures to correct deficiencies in the fire safety system of the shopping mall, the Investigative Committee added.

A fire erupted on the top floor of the Zimnyaya Vishnya four-storey shopping mall in the Siberian city of Kemerovo on March 25, eventually engulfing an area of 1,500 square meters. According to recent reports, the blaze killed 64 people, including 41 children.

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