The chief illuminator of the film "Rust" Serge Svetnoy has filed a lawsuit against several members of the film crew who may be associated with the death of cameraman Galina Hutchins.

According to Rolling Stone, among the defendants are the actor Alec Baldwin, who pulled the trigger, the gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, assistant director Dave Halls, producers and other employees responsible for handling weapons.

Svetochny accuses them of non-observance of safety measures and negligence, which led to the tragedy.

According to the plaintiff, the pistol from which the shot was fired was in the hands of several members of the film crew.

The props specialist handed it over to Gutierrez-Reed, who loaded the weapon and handed it to Dave Halls.

The assistant director, in turn, "failed to properly inspect" the pistol before handing it to Alec Baldwin.

The actor, according to Svetny, before aiming at people, also had to check the condition of the weapon and make sure that there were no live ammunition in it.

In addition, according to the text of the charge, staging the scene did not require the actor to pull the trigger: Baldwin had only to point the gun at the camera.

On the day of the tragedy, Serge Svetnoy was at the site, in the immediate vicinity of the scene.

The lawsuit states that the light was standing about two meters from Alec Baldwin and was involved in the preparation of the filming.

The plaintiff stated that the bullet that fatally injured Hutchins and wounded director Joel Sousa nearly hit him.

"To his right, he felt an incomprehensible frightening boost of compressed air," said in a statement of claim filed with the Los Angeles Supreme Court.

"He felt like what he thought was gunpowder and other residual material from the revolver hit him right in the right side of his face and scratched the lenses of his glasses."

Svetnoy positions himself as a close friend of the deceased: together they worked on almost all of her films, "shared food and water," "filmed under the scorching sun and froze in the snow."

According to court documents, it was Svetnoy who followed Hutchins after she was injured, talking to her, trying to keep the woman awake.

The New York Times reports that Svetny's court appeal contains claims for compensation for moral and physical damage.

The text of the statement of claim states that the light operator received bodily harm from the residual materials of the shot, as well as psychological trauma, as he witnessed the death of his girlfriend, which "made it impossible for him to continue working."

On his Facebook page, Serge Svetnoy published an official statement to the press, in which he said that he did not consider anyone in particular responsible for the death of Hutchins.

According to the illuminator, producers in general should hire professionals and not save on staff.

“I did not blame and do not accuse anyone personally, and even more so, someone alone.

There are many people involved in the filmmaking process.

Each person should do his job and be fully responsible for it, ”wrote Svetnoy.

Earlier, he emphasized: "It's all the fault of negligence and lack of professionalism."

The death of Galina Hutchins sparked a debate about a complete ban on functional firearms on film sets.

More than 200 filmmakers have signed an open letter with this proposal, including Edward Lachman (Carol), Rachel Morrison (Mudbound Farm) and Greg Fraser (Dune).

They announced that they will no longer participate in projects that do not comply with this requirement. 

In turn, Alec Baldwin suggested inviting police officers to record any scenes with weapons so that specialists could monitor security.

The tragic incident that resulted in the death of cameraman Galina Hutchins took place on October 21 on the set of the western "Rust" in New Mexico.

As a result of the emergency, the film's director Joel Souz was taken to the hospital with damage to his collarbone, and Hutchins was fatally wounded in the chest.