Prosecutors Drop Criminal Case Over Soil Collapse on Kharchenko Street

The deputy prosecutor of the Vyborgsky District canceled the resolution to initiate a criminal case on negligence that led to ground subsidence at the intersection of 1st Murinsky Avenue and Kharchenko Street. Investigative authorities have filed a complaint against this decision.

As follows from the official response of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee for St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region dated January 29, published by State Duma deputy Yevgeny Marchenko, the investigation believes that unidentified employees of Vodokanal (the water utility) showed negligence. According to the investigation, they signed a contract for the construction of a tunnel sewer collector without conducting the necessary review of project documentation. After the accident, residents of the nearby house had to be urgently resettled.

In parallel, an investigation continues into water pollution that caused harm to health or mass death of animals (Part 2 of Article 250 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The basis was an emergency discharge of sewage from the damaged collector into Murinsky Creek. The polluted water then entered the Okhta River, leading to fish death.

Separately, a criminal case has been initiated in connection with another ground subsidence that occurred in November at Svetlanovskaya Square. The contractor is accused of violating safety requirements during underground pipeline laying, as a result of which a drill pierced a central water supply pipe and caused soil erosion.