Translated material
Negligent examination
The prosecutor's office intends to bring new charges in the Transvaal Park case
Another alleged culprit in the collapse of Transvaal Park in Yasenevo was found by the Moscow prosecutor's office. Today, the head of the Moscow State Non-Departmental Expertise, Anatoly Voronin, is scheduled to arrive at the prosecutor's office and will be formally charged with negligence leading to the death of two or more people. The main defendant in this sensational case was still considered the designer of the water park, Nodar Kancheli, who was charged with the same negligence in early April.The architect did not admit his guilt, arguing that external factors (possibly terrorists) were to blame for the tragedy that occurred in February 2004, when 28 people died and more than 100 were injured, but there could not have been any mistakes in the project. The victims and their lawyer Igor Trunov also doubted that a collapse of such a scale could have occurred only through the fault of one architect - after all, the water park project had to go through many approvals, including from the Moscow State Expertise.
At the end of May, by a court decision, the victims won the right to familiarize themselves with the results of the examination. A month later, the city prosecutor's office announced a new charge. According to the investigation, “On October 9, 2001, Voronin did not take the necessary measures to comprehensively and objectively review the project for adjusting the covering of the Transvaal Park building, which was unique in its architectural and design solutions.” In particular, the official is accused of “signing a letter according to which the Moscow State Expertise agreed on an adjustment to the design of the coating of the specified building, that is, the replacement of the load-bearing aluminum structures of the water park covering agreed upon by the conclusion of the Moscow State Expertise dated September 28, 2000 with a reinforced concrete ribbed shell.” “As a result of Voronin’s above-mentioned inaction, design errors made by the chief designer of the project, Nodar Kancheli, were not eliminated, although with proper, conscientious performance of his official duties by Voronin, they could and should have been identified and approval of such a project should have been refused,” - - emphasized the prosecutor's office. Yesterday the prosecutor's office refrained from giving details of the indictment until the head of the Moscow State Expertise arrived for questioning. It was impossible to get any comments from Mr. Voronin himself yesterday.