KHABAROVSK, Russia -- A court in Russia's Far East has handed prison terms to three defendants who had been charged over a tent fire that claimed the lives of four children in 2019.
A court in the city of Khabarovsk on September 23 sentenced the owner of the Kholdomi tent camp, Vitaly Burlakov, to nine years in prison and the director of the camp, Maksim Kuznetsov, to eight years in prison after finding them guilty of manslaughter and failing to meet safety requirements while providing services.
The court also barred the two men from occupying positions linked to children's upbringing and education for three years.
A third defendant, Eduard Novgorodtsev, an employee of the Emergency Ministry, was found guilty of negligence that led to more than one death and sentenced to three years in prison.
The fire on July 23, 2019, destroyed 20 tents and partially damaged six more tents in the Kholdomi camp, killing four children.
In total there were 189 children between the ages of 7 and 15 at the camp when the fire broke out.
