Russia: Judge Postpones Verdict On Nerpa Case to Oct. 14

Verdict on the case of accident happened to SSN Nerpa was postponed for Oct 14, reports RIA Novosti referring to Pacific Fleet (PF) Assistant Judge Roman Kolbanov. As for him, the court session previously scheduled on Oct 5 is postponed due to protracted preparations.

On Sept 30 the jury court acquitted Nerpa‘s commanding officer Dmitry Lavrentiev and engineer Dmitry Grobov charged of the accident. The jurymen came to the conclusion that investigators had failed to prove guilt of the servicemen.

According to Interfax, relatives of persons died in the accident are about to appeal from the judgement of PF Court Martial to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. Besides, PF Procuracy also plans to complaint about acquittal.

Twenty persons died and 38 suffered in the tragedy happened to SSN Nerpa in 2008. During trials in the Sea of Japan, onboard firefighting system spontaneously operated; crewmen and trial specialists were intoxicated by freon and carbon dichloride. Totally, there were 208 persons on board the sub.

The case of Nerpa‘s accident was taken to court in March 2011. In the course of investigation, Grobov admitted that he had pushed the firefighting system button, although then denied that evidence saying he had been forced to give it.

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Source: rusnavy, October 06, 2011