Russian prosecutors want case vs co-founder of Domodedovo closed

MOSCOW, Feb 19 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office has demanded Investigative Committee’s Chief Alexander Bastrykin void a criminal case against Dmitry Kamenshchik, a co-founder of Domodedovo International Airport, as the case’s launch was illegal, a prosecutor said Friday at the Moscow Basmanny Court.

On January 24, 2011, an explosion hit the baggage-claim area of Domodedovo; 37 people, including foreigners, were killed, and 172 people were injured. Kamenshchik was detained on Thursday and charged with providing services that did not meet safety requirements and led to peoples’ death.

“The Prosecutor General’s Office has sent a request to the Investigative Committee’s chief to stop this criminal case,” he said, adding that there were no legal grounds to detain Kamenshchik. “They just took an indictment charging (the airport’s ex-CEO Vyacheslav) Nekrasov and typed in Kamenshchik’s surname.”

At the same time, the Investigative Committee during the court hearing recalled its detain order imposed on Kamenshchik and requested he be put under house arrest as he may be sentenced with 10 years in prison and may flee from Russia if he is released from the court.

Lawyers of the airport’s co-founder said he denied any charges. They said there were no grounds for putting Kamenshchik under house arrest and offered a 15 million ruble bail instead. One of the lawyers said that his arrest was illegal as Kamenshchik was called in for questioning as a witness and immediately detained.

Another businessman’s lawyer, Mikhail Kolpakov, said that investigators must prove that the safety standards developed by Kamenshchik in 2011 were direct reason of 37 deaths. “But the investigation will be unable to prove that, as there was another reason (the explosion),” he said.

Kamenshchik confirmed that he is the ultimate beneficiary owner of Domodedovo International Airport.

The Investigative Committee decided to prolong investigation under the criminal case against Kamenshchik until April 28.

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