A criminal case of negligence was opened by investigators after the terrorist attack in the Crocus City Hall concert hall, TASS reports citing law enforcement agencies.

“Criminal case under Art. 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Negligence”) was initiated against the person responsible for fire safety at Crocus, as well as the head of the fire brigade at Crocus,” the report says.

Both defendants in the case are under recognizance not to leave the place. The case against them is related to possible violations of fire safety rules in the concert hall.

On March 25, the head of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, Alexander Kurenkov, during a meeting on measures taken after the terrorist attack, reported to Vladimir Putin that the building was equipped with an automatic fire alarm system and it worked as normal. In addition, the Crocus automatic fire extinguishing system included four robotic barrels and a program control system.

“According to experts, the system failed to [extinguish] the fire due to the development of combustion over a large burning area,” he said.

At the same time, the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, noted that as a result of the fire, 45 people died from exposure to high temperature and combustion products. In this regard, investigators are checking a possible violation of safety requirements and the fire extinguishing system in the concert hall.

“For this purpose, consoles, electronic units and control devices for the fire safety system of the concert hall were confiscated. They are aimed at researching and extracting information about the operating mode of fire safety systems at the time of the terrorist attack. The contents of the fire system server are being studied with the participation of experts. A fire-technical examination has been appointed to establish the operability and timely response of all fire safety systems,” he pointed out.

At the same time, businessman Emin Agalarov, whose father owns Crocus, in an interview with RBC called false reports that the fire alarm did not go off and some of the emergency exits were blocked.

He also refuted the experts' statements that the hall quickly burned down due to the quality of the materials used in construction. According to him, fire-resistant materials were used, and construction was carried out in accordance with all standards.

Earlier, fire safety expert Konstantin Kaluzhin, in a conversation with RT, noted that the alert was launched at Crocus, apparently in manual mode, when it was announced: “For technical reasons, leave the building.” According to him, the message should be stored in the fire automatic system.

He believes that the water fire extinguishing system worked, but in some areas. At the same time, emergency door opening (the so-called anti-panic) did not work everywhere.

Based on the words of eyewitnesses, the expert admitted that there was no smoke removal system, “that is, black smoke spread throughout all these areas,” which led to the death of people. Kaluzhin also added that the auditorium has a high fire load, since “all the seats there, everything that touches the stage, of course, are flammable materials.”

Also on russian.rt.com the RF IC received data from the mobile phones of terrorists from Crocus City Hall - video

Let us remind you that on the evening of March 22, four natives of Tajikistan (Dalerjon Mirzoev, Rachabalizodu Saidakrami, Fariduni Shamsidin and Muhammadsobir Fayzov) broke into Crocus City Hall, where they started shooting and set fire to the concert hall. After that, they tried to escape to Ukraine by car. They were detained in the Bryansk region.

As the Investigative Committee established, the detainees acted in coordination with an unknown man who sent them voice messages via Telegram. At the same time, there is confirmed evidence that the accused received significant amounts of cash and cryptocurrency from Ukraine.

In addition, in the phone of one of the detained terrorists, photographs were found with the Ukrainian flag, coat of arms, armored vehicles and people in military uniform against the backdrop of destroyed houses, as well as a picture of a “Ukrainian postage stamp with an obscene gesture.”

“The specified data may indicate a connection between the terrorist act committed and the conduct of the SVO,” the department said.