Volgograd Engineer Tried for Station Explosion That Killed Six
The hearing in the Krasnoarmeysky District Court of Volgograd was dedicated to the case of Dmitry Lebedev, chief engineer of JSC «Water Supply Concessions». He is accused of violating labor protection and safety rules during construction work, which led to an explosion at sewer pumping station No. 4 and the death of six employees in July 2024. The prosecutor insists on a guilty verdict.
Relatives of the deceased were present in the courtroom but declined to speak. «I don»t want to remember all this, especially since I was there myself,« said the daughter of one of the victims, who also worked at the station. The victims quietly commented on the course of the trial, expressing skepticism about the company»s promises to immortalize the memory of the workers.
The prosecution representative, Deputy Prosecutor of Krasnoarmeysky District Darya Lebedeva, read out the case materials. According to the documents, from June 2020 to July 2024, station employees repeatedly complained about dangerous working conditions and strong odors indicating gas accumulation.
- Expertise established that the cause of the explosion was a high concentration of combustible gases, mainly methane, as well as hydrogen sulfide and carbonyl sulfide.
- Traces of petroleum products found in the network have no direct connection to the tragedy, according to the investigation.
- Instruments recorded constant exceedance of maximum permissible concentrations of hazardous substances.
- A commission medical examination recognized that foreman Mikhail Kurakin died a day before the explosion from poisoning by a mixture of toxic gases.
«As a result of his criminal negligence, Lebedev has allowed operation under conditions that pose a real danger to the life and health of employees since 2020,» stated the prosecutor.
The prosecution asks to recognize Lebedev guilty under Part 2 of Article 143 and Part 3 of Article 216 of the Russian Criminal Code and sentence him to 8 years and 6 months of imprisonment in a settlement colony with a subsequent ban on professional activity.
The defendant«s defense was handled by three lawyers. They insisted on the absence of guilt, claiming that Dmitry Lebedev acted strictly within his job instructions and could not control all operations on site.
Lawyer Yevgeny Udovenko presented several arguments:
- Lebedev did not give instructions to foreman Kurakin to descend into the dangerous zone.
- The decision to descend was made after a quarrel with the site supervisor, and the gas analyzers at that time were dismantled due to malfunction, which the engineer was not informed about.
- The defendant repeatedly submitted requests to purchase new ventilation equipment, but the procurement was delayed.
- The immediate cause of the explosion could have been prohibited construction work to install fans at a critical concentration of gases, which were authorized by other responsible persons.
«The guilt of the subject of the crime is absent, and there is no guilt in the form of negligence either,» summarized the defender.
In his final statement, Dmitry Lebedev expressed condolences to the relatives of the deceased but did not admit responsibility. «On my part, as an official, all possible measures within my competence were taken. I didn»t even know that he [Kurakin] went there,« he said.
The court scheduled the announcement of the verdict for February 2.
