Yesterday, the Kirov District Court of Novosibirsk for the third time began to consider the case of sending abroad “anatomical material” - the corpses of deceased patients and brain preparations. The accused, the head of the regional bureau of forensic medicine, Vladimir Novoselov, who is charged with malfeasance, has already been acquitted twice. Soon there will be no judges left in the district court who have not dealt with this case. Preliminary hearings in the case of Mr. Novoselov were held behind closed doors. However, what the head of the medical examination bureau in Novosibirsk is accused of is known to literally everyone - the story of almost 50 corpses and 440 brain specimens being sent to the Heidelberg Institute of Plastination (Germany) - about five years ago. According to the regional prosecutor's office, in 2000 Novoselov recommended that hospital chief doctors send to his bureau the corpses of patients whose relatives refused to bury them. From the medical examination bureau, the “cadaveric material” was taken to the morgue of the Novosibirsk Medical Academy, and from there to Germany, where it was to be used to make teaching aids for medical students. Investigators found victims who were told by the ICE bureau that their loved ones had been cremated and were given urns with ashes, although in fact the remains were sent to Germany.

Twice the Kirov District Court, where the case was considered, did not see the elements of a crime in the actions of Vladimir Novoselov and issued an acquittal. According to the court, Novoselov did not know that the “cadaveric material” that the bureau had been transferring to the medical academy for many years for the “educational process” would eventually end up abroad; The search for relatives of the deceased should be carried out by the staff of the hospital where the patient died. Novoselov knew nothing about cases of pseudo-cremation. For these episodes, charges were brought against the head of the bureau, Galina Belova, but she was released from criminal liability. However, both times the Novosibirsk Regional Court satisfied the prosecutor's protest against the acquittal and returned the case for a new trial.

Yesterday, Novoselov's lawyer Mikhail Kurilov filed a motion to return the case to the prosecutor's office to re-draft the indictment. Allegedly, the investigator did not provide a list of evidence available in the case, but only referred to its source. According to the defense lawyer, this “made it impossible to verify the evidence by comparing it.” A representative of the prosecutor's office considered these shortcomings in the document to be formal and lodged a protest. The court sided with the defense and decided to return the case to the prosecutor.

Theoretically, Novoselov's case can be considered as many times as necessary. Lawyers say that there will soon be no judges left in the Kirov District Court who have not dealt with this case. If this happens, the Novosibirsk Regional Court may change jurisdiction by sending the case to any other district court of the city.

KONSTANTIN VORONOV

Kommersant (Novosibirsk) No. 218 dated November 20, 2004, p. 12

The “case of corpses” returned to the district court