“Where is our Foreign Ministry?” – Russian citizens received prison sentences in Belarus
The Moscow court of Minsk today sentenced Russian citizens Maximilian Sapronov and Konstantin Denisov to three years in prison in a penal colony, finding them responsible for explosions during fireworks on July 3, 2019 in the Belarusian capital, as a result of which a person died.
This was reported by the Tut.by correspondent of PolitNavigator.
Sapronov and Denisov worked as engineers at the Russian company Piro-Ross, which supplied both fireworks systems and shells to Belarus. Both of them pleaded not guilty.
Piro-Ross chief engineer Andrei Inkin insisted that the actions of his subordinates could not lead to the tragedy. In his opinion, the products could have flattened or expanded in some places if improperly stored or transported.
“My colleagues and I came to Minsk out of the kindness of our hearts; we did not enter into any contract for additional services. The Ministry of Defense did not officially make any claims against us. If they had said that the products were defective, we would, of course, change them. But no one said anything like that,” Inkin said.
The Russian company intends to appeal the verdict.
In addition to the Russians, the court also found guilty the commander of the patrol company of the Minsk military commandant's office, Alexei Kruglik. He himself does not believe that his actions led to the tragedy.
Sapronov and Denisov will have their time in the pre-trial detention center taken into account, where they have been held for more than a year; Kruglik remains free until the sentence comes into force.
It is expected that the Russians will also face civil claims from the Minsk military commandant's office and the victims. The family of the deceased woman, for example, filed a claim for compensation of 100 thousand Belarusian rubles (almost 3 million Russian rubles).
“Where is our Foreign Ministry, diplomats, consul? You can’t abandon your own,” political scientist Bogdan Bezpalko comments on the verdict.
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