The case of the deaths of patients at a Vladikavkaz hospital has been returned to the investigation.

The court has returned for a second time the case of the head physician and engineer of a Vladikavkaz hospital, accused of involvement in the deaths of nine coronavirus patients.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," in May 2024, Vladimir Pliev, former head physician of the Republican Clinical Emergency Hospital, and Oleg Morozov, a cryogenic equipment engineer at the medical facility, pleaded their innocence to the court in the deaths of the patients.

On November 1, the Industrial District Court of Vladikavkaz returned the case concerning the deaths of nine hospital patients to the prosecutor's office for further investigation. This was requested by the defense attorney for defendant Oleg Morozov, Osnova reports.

"His side believed there was no evidence base and that the case was not being investigated properly. The prosecutor asked the judge for time to prepare a response, but the court did not grant this request and sent the case back to the prosecutor's office," the newspaper quotes victim Elena Luchkina as saying.

According to the case file on the court's website, the case against Pliev and Morozov was "returned to the prosecutor or head of the investigative body" on November 1 on the grounds that "the indictment (indictment) was drawn up in violation of the Code's requirements." The date of the next hearing, as of 8:00 a.m. Moscow time on November 2, is not indicated in the case file.

As a reminder, on August 9, 2021, an oxygen line malfunction occurred at the hospital, resulting in the death of nine coronavirus patients in intensive care. Ten people were recognized as victims in the case.

The head physician was initially charged with negligence, and Pliev faced up to seven years in prison. After the case is reclassified under Part 3 of Article 238 of the Russian Criminal Code, "Provision of services that do not meet safety requirements, resulting in the death of two or more people," Pliev and Morozov face up to 10 years in prison.

According to investigators, the hospital had been regularly experiencing oxygen supply shortages since March 2021, and Morozov, the person responsible for the system, repeatedly reported the problem to Pliev. That same March, Rostekhnadzor filed a complaint against the head physician for violating industrial safety requirements, threatening the lives and health of patients. Despite this, the head physician did nothing to correct the oxygen supply problems and ordered Morozov to continue operating the system despite its technical malfunctions, to which he agreed.

Following Pliev's arrest, medical workers at the Republican Clinical Emergency Hospital wrote a letter in his support. The head doctor had previously indicated the need for a second oxygen line, and the authorities allocated funds for its construction, the North Ossetian Ministry of Health reported on the day of Pliev's arrest.