Russian court orders arrest of shopping mall’s chief technical officer

KEMEROVO. KAZINFORM Kemerovo's Zavodskoy District Court ruled on Wednesday to arrest Georgy Sobolev, the chief technical officer, for two months. This technician worked for the company, which owns the Zimnyaya Vishnya (Winter Cherry) shopping mall (OJSC Kemerovo Confectionery Factory), a TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom.

"The court hereby rules to impose a pre-trial restraint for a period of one month and 29 days - until May 25," Judge Viktor Gaag said.

Similar decisions were earlier made on arresting two other defendants in the criminal case: the shopping mall's tenant Nadezhda Suddenok and private security company guard Sergei Antyushin.

Kemerovo shopping mall fire
A catastrophic blaze broke out on the top floor of the Zimnyaya Vishnya (or Winter Cherry) four-story shopping mall in the Siberian city of Kemerovo on March 25, eventually engulfing an area of 1,500 square meters. According to the latest reports, the conflagration has claimed the lives of 64 people, including 41 children. Twenty-seven bodies have been identified. A total of 76 people, among them 27 children, were injured in the fire.

According to President Vladimir Putin's decree, Russia is observing a day of national mourning on March 28 over the tragedy.