Kemerovo court arrests Listvyazhnaya owner Fedyayev

KEMEROVO, Dec 16 (PRIME) -- The Central District Court of Kemerovo has arrested Mikhail Fedyayev, the owner of the Listvyazhnaya coal mine and chairman of the board of directors at parent company SDS-Ugol, and CEO of SDS-Ugol Gennady Alexeyev late on Wednesday under a criminal case launched after a November blast at the mine that killed 51 people.

Fedyayev was arrested until February 14, 2022 and Alekseyev until January 25, the court said.

Earlier on Wednesday, the court arrested chief engineer of the Listvyazhnaya coal mine Anatoly Lobanov and SDS-Ugol Technical Director Anton Yakutov until January 25.

Those arrested are charged with violation of industrial safety requirements at hazardous production facilities, resulting in the death of two or more people through negligence and abuse of authority in a commercial organization, resulting in grave consequences.

On November 27, the authorities detained and later arrested Director of the mine Sergei Makhrakov, First Deputy Director Andrei Molostov, Section Chief Sergei Gerasimenok, as well as state inspectors of the local department of the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological, and Nuclear Oversight Sergei Vinokurov and Vyacheslav Semykin.

Methane exploded at the mine on November 25, when 285 people were underground. In total, 51 people, including five rescue team members, fell victims to the tragedy.

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