Park-Hotel Syamozero director arrested
PETROZAVODSK. June 21 (Interfax) - The Petrozavodsk City Court has accommodated the request of investigators and sanctioned taking the director of the Park-Hotel Syamozero Ltd, Yelena Reshetova, into custody, an Interfax correspondent reported from the courtroom.
"The court has resolved to select the preventive measure of custody until August 19 with respect to Yelena Reshetova," the correspondent quoted the judge as saying.
The hearing was closed to the public at the request of the investigator who asked to do so, citing the risk that personal details of juvenile witnesses, whose statements will be heard in court, could be disclosed during the hearing. The defense lawyers backed the request.
Despite the fact that the suspect has three dependent children, and a mother with a Group 1 disability, the court resolved to take her into custody because, in the judge's opinion, Reshetova can influence witness statements to be received from the resort's employees, instructors and tutors. Besides, the court suggested that she can conceal evidence in the case.
Children from the Park-Hotel Syamozero camp ran into a storm while boating on Lake Syamozero, in the Pryazhinsky district of Karelia, on June 18. There were 47 children and four adult instructors in three boats. The boats overturned and sank in the storm. People from the capsized boats attempted to swim up to the lake shore, but not all of them managed to do so due to high waves and the low water temperature, and eventually 14 children drowned. Thirteen bodies have been found. One child is still being searched for.
The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case on the charges of "rendering services not meeting safety requirements" and "negligence that caused the death of two and more people," with the sanction of up to seven years in prison.
The Park-Hotel Syamozero camp was shut down.
