KEMEROVO, March 27. /TASS/. Kemerovo’s Zavodsky District Court has extended the detention of Nadezhda Suddyonok, the lessee of the site where the Zimnyaya Vishnya shopping mall fire is believed to have started, a TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom.
"Suddyonok’s detention is hereby extended to 72 hours," a court judge said.
Suddyonok is charged under Article 238.3 of the Russian Criminal Code (provision of services failing to meet safety requirements).
The court earlier extended the detention of Georgy Sobolev, another defendant in the Zhimnyaya Vishnya shopping mall fire case, who is the technical director of the mall’s owner company.
On Tuesday, the court received files concerning four people detained in connection with the shopping mall fire.
According to the Russian Investigative Committee, a total of five people have been detained so far, including Sobolev, Suddyonok, an employee and the head of the company that maintained the mall’s fire alarm and the security guard who turned the fire alarm warning system off.
Kemerovo shopping mall fire
A fire erupted on the top floor of the Zimnyaya Vishnya (or Winter Cherry) 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, while 68 injured requested medical assistance, with 15 of them still remaining in the hospital. As many as 25 fire victims, including 13 children, have been identified.
Kemerovo is observing three days of mourning on March 27-29. Flags are flying at half mast, entertaining events have been cancelled across the region.
A criminal investigation has been launched into negligent homicide, fire safety rules violations resulting in the death of two or more persons and the provision of services failing to meet safety requirements.