Workers of Cherkessk marketplace claim deliberate arson

On April 27, Leyla Semyonova and Sima Kulova, who were delegated by over 300 victims of the fire in the Turgenev marketplace in Cherkessk, were received by Kazimir Botashov, the Minister of Internal Affaires of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR).

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 28, 2015, the inquiry into the fire that struck the marketplace on August 7, 2014, was suspended, as investigators had failed to establish the culprit of the arson. On April 14 this year, the KChR's Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) decided to resume the inquiry in response of the actions of former workers of the marketplace held in Cherkessk, the capital of the KChR, on April 11-14.

During the above meeting with the former traders, the Minister received an application with a request to conduct an objective inquiry with account of testimonies of all the witnesses and eyewitnesses.

"Investigators have mistakenly established the time of the onset of the fire in the shopping complex 'Turgenevskiy', without taking into account the testimonies of the majority of eyewitnesses," says the application, a copy of which is at the disposal of the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

It also requests to reclassify the case from Part 2, Article 167 of the Russian Criminal Code (offenses committed out of hooliganism by means of an arson, explosion or other publicly dangerous way), into Part 1, Article 167 (intentional destruction or damage of other's property, if these offences have entailed causing a significant loss).

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.