"We had to burn"

In the Siberian city of Kansk - the district center in the Krasnoyarsk Territory - with a difference of one day two protest rallies passed at once. The first, for the resignation of the mayor of the city of Nadezhda Kachan, gathered one and a half thousand people. The second, against semi -underground sawmills working in Kansk, is three hundred people. It was because of these companies, people in Kansk are sure, on May 24, terrible fires began in the city, which destroyed dozens of houses and caused the deaths of two people.

Recent fires in just a day destroyed 78 houses in Kansk and left about 300 citizens without housing. Two residents of the city died. Another person who burned down on the same day lived in the village of Tilchet. In total, in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, then, on May 24, the fire destroyed about 140 houses, almost 600 people were left without shelter.

Already in hot pursuit it was clear: the real reason for what happened is not an element, not a combination of circumstances, and not someone’s negligence. Now several criminal cases have already been instituted in the Krasnoyarsk Territory - about negligence, fraud, bribes, and falsification of documents. The investigation was made by senior employees of the Ministry of Emergencies, customs, bailiffs, officials.

The Kansk prosecutor’s office sent the audit materials to the investigating authorities so that there they would solve the issue of initiating a criminal case and against the hope of the Kachan, the head of the city.

And people went to rallies because they are almost sure: deaths can be repeated at any time.

Deadly patronage

The burnt area of Kansk is not subject to restoration. There is simply nothing to restore here.

Many animals burned out a lot - probably no one cleaned them for ten days, Smrad stood throughout the city

“We have already calmed down more or less, everything was subsided somehow,” says a resident of Kansk, Nina Isotova . -People are all attached somewhere, some of the relatives, some in hostels, who in hotels-no one remained the street. It was scary in the beginning. The men came here on trucks - looters: they were looking for scrap metal, and in general everything that was preserved was taken away, we drove them away as we could. And then, after all, there was a lot of animals a lot of animals - probably, nobody cleaned them for ten days, Smrad stood throughout the city, we suffered here. And no one knew who should remove them-all the instances argued among themselves. Yes, and we do not have a special burial ground. But now everything seems to be settled. And they begin to pay material assistance slowly. Some of the fireplace were promised by July apartments. But those who have not the only one who burned out will not receive anything - only that housing is laid who was left without it.

Now life in Kansk if it does not establish, then more or less calms down. At the same time, none of the townspeople believes in the accident. As in the fact that nothing like this will never happen again. The fire at the end of spring began due to the fact that w tedy sawdust flared up in several small semi-algal woodworking companies (mainly Chinese). Everyone knew that their territories were cluttered with dangerous waste. The authorities, of course, were also aware. But these enterprises continued to work. They work now.

We had to burn - this is only a matter of time

“Kansk has actually burned on May 24 - he has been ongoing for the past five years continuously,” says Radio Freedom, the organizer of the rally for the resignation of the mayor Yevgeny Ivanov , deputy of the Kansky city council. - Just this time, fires took this scale. But sooner or later it was supposed to happen, we had to burn - this is only a matter of time. The townspeople all this time wrote appeals to the mayor, complained about illegal sawmills, in which something is constantly smoldering and smoking. There is either no answer, or - we "swing the boat", we are talking about "far -fetched problems." We wrote not only to the city hall, but also to law enforcement agencies, and the governor, and the presidential administration. Each time, these appeals return to Kansk with the resolution "take measures". And everything remained in their places. The case turned into a tragedy, we did not have time to reach out.

At the rally, the townspeople collected signatures under the appeal to the governor of the region Viktor Tolokonsky about the early retirement of Nadezhda Kachan in connection with the loss of confidence and to the head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bastrykin, so that he accelerate the initiation of a criminal case against the mayor. If this happens, it will become one of the many who have been opened in Kansk in recent days.

Soon after the fires, Ilya Bukhonkin, the head of the Kansk Customs, was arrested and arrested on suspicion of receiving bribes from the owners of Chinese sawmills "for general protection."

The head of the department of supervisory activities of the Ministry of Emergencies in Kansk, Alexander Peshkov, was also detained for large bribes from foreign entrepreneurs: according to the investigation, he received at least 200 thousand rubles for not holding the owner of the sawmill, which kept wood waste with violations.

The owner of the company "Forest of Krasnoyarsk" Anna Kabaruba was arrested , she fell under the article "Violation of fire safety, entailed the death of two persons." Due to the fact that sawdust and chips on the territory of this particular company lit up, 57 houses burned down and two people died.

The day before the fire, the seals were torn off - on May 22, "blue and" worked as if nothing had happened

But the company "Xin and" (the founder is the Chinese citizen Liu Shaulin ), which also caused the fire, has more than once managed to evade responsibility. There was a court decision that demanded that the company deal with smoldering waste and take them away from the city. There was no reaction. The buildings and machines of the company this spring seized. But the day before the fire, the seals were torn off - on May 22, "Sin and" worked as if nothing had happened.

By the way, another criminal case is connected with this enterprise - against the bailiff, the name of which the investigation has not yet disclosed. She forged the act of inspection of the territory of "Xin and", indicating that the company allegedly removed the waste (which, of course, was not).

- You see, she could not (that is, Nadezhda Kachan. - RS ) not to know about it, this did not arise yesterday. She is not a completely stupid person to not understand what is happening around her, ”says Evgeny Ivanov . -I cannot say that the mayor had some kind of personal material interest in what was happening. But that she at least closed her eyes on this - for sure.

"Everything is fine with us"

- And what, in fact, is this in Kansk? -says Olga Persian , head of the press service of the city hall. - The administration agreed on holding rallies, allocated places for them. The events took place. Although I personally believe that people like the same Evgeny Ivanov simply wound up people for the sake of self -party. Whoever wants to present to people a tense situation will do so. But everything is fine with us. And problems with sawmills are also solved.

Money was allocated for equipment of a special landfill for wood waste. He is not yet

But if they decide, it is somehow too slow. A resident of Kansk Sergey Brisker, the head of the Foress Legal Center, has been following the situation for a long time. Back in 2014, he says, the city allocated money from the regional budget for the equipment of a special landfill for wood waste. But he is still not in Kansk.

-Now in the city with the 100,000th population, according to the latest data, 110 small forest processing enterprises-these are exactly the same sawmills that are constantly caught in violations. In the first half of May alone, 17 administrative protocols were drawn up on this occasion, ”says Sergey Brisker . - Three years ago, 270 million rubles were allocated for the construction of a training ground - it was to avoid fires and environmental problems. It is still not. In March 2016, the court already ordered the city hall to finally engage in the landfill. The court’s order was not fulfilled either, but more than a year has passed. It was there, in the industrial zone in the north-west of the city, where there were especially many sawmills and where it was planned to equip the landfill, on May 7 this year a large fire occurred-and all the same reason. The damage from it was estimated at 35 million rubles. From there, the fire began on May 24.

Sergei Brisker says: it is the story of the landfill that can become the basis for initiating a case against Nadezhda Kachan. So far - under the article "negligence". In any case, it was precisely such a requirement that the prosecutor’s office to the Investigative Committee now sent.

It is impossible to write off what happened on a combination of circumstances, the laws here are obvious

- According to the law, while there is no court decision that has entered into force, it cannot be argued that all the people who are now under investigation: officials, emphasis, bailiffs, customs officers, entrepreneurs are unequivocally guilty of what happened. While they are all under investigation, ”says Brisker. - But in the same way you can not write off what happened in Kansk on a combination of circumstances. The patterns here are obvious.

What changed in Kansk after fire on May 24? For specific people, a lot. Someone was without a house. Someone became a defendant in a criminal case. Someone is now suing officials for compensation for damage (in the first week after the fire, the prosecutor accepted from 44 citizens for 58 million rubles). But for the city, it seems that nothing has changed. The other day, in the industrial zone in the north-west of Kansk, on the site of the unheatted training ground, a large fire occurred again. Fortunately, people were not injured.

Sawdles still smolder and steam into the territory of the company "Sin and". Nobody removes them. The company continues to work. Residents of Kansk take off fire and upload fresh photos to the network every day.