SC would not move trial on death of schoolchildren in Azov Sea to Moscow

The Russian Supreme Court (SC) refused to change the territorial jurisdiction of the case dealing with the death of six Moscow schoolchildren on the Yeisk Spit in the Azov Sea on July 7, 2010, having rejected the petition of the victims, who asked to transfer the trial from the Yeisk City Court to Moscow.

Let us remind you that since the case was requested by the SC, the session of the Yeisk City Court, scheduled for December 21, 2010, did not take place. Then, the sitting on the case was postponed till January. In total, the litigation involves 112 persons; of them 108 persons are Muscovites, including 83 minors.

The victims' lawyers had asked to move the litigation to Moscow, since most figurants, both defendants and claimants live in Moscow.

According to the decision of the SC, "under the law, change of jurisdiction is only possible if all the defendants agree to it; however, in the course of the session the defendant Irina Ryabova changed her mind and opposed the transfer of her case to a Moscow court.

According to Igor Trunov, who represents the victims' interests, "the defence will petition that the Yeisk City Court holds a travel session in Moscow," the ITAR-TASS reports.

Meanwhile, the victims also filed an application to the Investigatory Committee demanding to institute criminal proceedings against financially responsible persons of the "School of Health", in particular, its director, on the facts of financial frauds and scams. They also lodged a 4-million euros suit to the Tver Court of Moscow against the Moscow Department of Finance.