A probe has been completed into local officials’ alleged negligence during a natural disaster in the Krasnodar Territory in July 2012, the Russian Investigative Committee said.
“Now that ample evidence has been gathered, the indictment is to be approved and the criminal case is to be referred to court,” Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told Interfax.
The suspects are ex-head of the Krymsk district Vasily Krutko, ex-Krymsk Mayor Vladimir Ulanovsky, ex-Mayor of the town of Nizhnebakansky Irina Ryabchenko, and acting head of the Krymsk district Emergency Situations Department Viktor Zhdanov.
All of them failed to alert citizens to the danger of flooding and to organize their evacuation, according to investigators.
“And none of them took measures to lessen the damage, which led to 153 deaths, the disappearance of two citizens and serious injuries sustained by five local residents on July 6-7, 2012,” Markin said.
Charges of fraud, negligence and mishandling of compensation payments were brought against them.