The verdict in the case of deaths at a pumping station in Volgograd has been appealed.
The Volgograd Regional Court received the case of the former chief engineer of Water Supply Concessions, convicted of the deaths of six people at a pumping station. The verdict was appealed by both the prosecutor's office and defense lawyers.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot," on February 2, the Krasnoarmeysky District Court of Volgograd sentenced Dmitry Lebedev, former chief engineer of Water Supply Concessions, to 3.5 years of forced labor, with a 10% deduction from his wages for the state. He is also banned from holding positions related to occupational safety and hazardous work for 2.5 years. The prosecution requested a sentence of 8.5 years in a penal colony for Lebedev, and the Volgograd prosecutor's office, considering the sentence excessively lenient, announced its intention to appeal it.
In July 2024, an explosion occurred at Sewage Pumping Station No. 4 (SPS-4) in Volgograd, killing six people. According to investigators, a foreman was poisoned by toxic gases while inspecting the station before the explosion and died on the spot. The following day, the accused, recognizing the danger, assigned workers who lacked the necessary qualifications and authorization to install ventilation equipment. During this work, an explosion occurred, killing five more people. The damage from the destruction of the facility exceeded 27 million rubles.
The Volgograd Regional Court received the criminal case materials against Dmitry Lebedev. The Krasnoarmeysky District Court's decision was appealed by both the prosecutor's office and the defense, V1.ru reported today.
"The state prosecution's appeal was the first to be filed with the court. Then, a few days later, the defense also filed its objections to the verdict. The day before, on March 20, the case materials were received by the Volgograd Regional Court," the publication stated.
According to the publication, the lawyers maintain Lebedev's innocence. According to the defense, the preliminary investigation established that several employees and executives of Concessions were responsible for the explosion. However, according to the defendant's representatives, the prosecutor ignored this fact, and only the chief engineer was charged.
Meanwhile, the defense insists that the explosive mixture was formed by the volley discharge of hundreds of tons of petroleum products into wastewater. How they got into the sewage pumping station reservoir has not been established, and the investigation, according to the lawyers, pretended that the discharges had no connection to the tragedy.
"Lebedev could not have stopped the operation of Pumping Station No. 4. This is not provided for by local regulations. And it is technically impossible. Even functioning ventilation would not have been able to cope with the oil vapors that formed at Pumping Station No. 4 immediately at the time of the tragedy. Lebedev did everything he was supposed to do. The resulting tragedy is beyond his job description. He did not foresee that hundreds of tons of oil would be discharged into the sewer system, and he should not have prevented it," the newspaper quoted the defense's position on February 2.
According to the case file on the Volgograd Regional Court website, the materials were submitted to the judge on March 20. The date of the first hearing, as of 10:20 a.m. Moscow time on March 21, is not indicated in the case file. The interests of the convicted man are represented by three defense lawyers: Alexander Butov, Anna Lisitskaya, and Evgeny Udovenko.