The court extended the arrest of the owner of the Lame Horse until June 8

The Leninsky District Court of Perm on Wednesday extended the detention of the owner of the Lame Horse club, Anatoly Zak, for three months. As an Interfax correspondent reports from the courtroom, the hearing took place without the presence of the accused, who is in hospital for inpatient treatment, at the trial, as well as without the participation of his defense attorneys.

“The court considers it necessary to satisfy the request of the state prosecution to extend the period of detention of Anatoly Zak until June 8 inclusive due to the fact that the circumstances have not changed to change the preventive measure to a more lenient one,” the judge said.

The next hearing in the case of the fire at the Lame Horse club is scheduled for March 12.

A fire in the Perm club "Lame Horse" occurred on December 5, 2009. It claimed the lives of 156 people and injured dozens. The actual owner of the Lame Horse club, Anatoly Zak, is accused under Part 3 of Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Providing services as part of an organized group that do not meet the requirements for the safety of life and health of consumers, resulting through negligence in causing grievous harm to health and death”). The accused repeatedly became ill in the courtroom and underwent surgery during the trial. The defendant's defense asked the court to release him from custody and change the measure of restraint, but this request was not granted.

Also accused in the case are the club's executive director Svetlana Efremova, art director Oleg Fetkulov, chief state fire inspector of the Perm Territory Vladimir Mukhutdinov, state fire inspectors Dmitry Roslyakov and Natalya Prokopyeva, director of the Pyrotechnic Company "Pirotsvet" LLC Sergei Derbenev and his son, employee of the same company Igor Derbenev. A preliminary investigation is underway against another person involved, co-owner of the club Konstantin Mrykhin.