KRASNOYARSK, June 11. /TASS/: The court in Norilsk arrested Pavel Smirnov, the director of CHPP-3 power plant where the fuel oil spill had taken place, until July 31, press service of the Krasnoyarsk District Court told TASS on Thursday.
"[He] was arrested for one month and 21 days, until July 31 inclusive," a court spokesperson said.
The Russian Investigative Committee earlier laid charges against CHPP-3 shop superintendent Vyacheslav Starostin. He was taken into custody.
Smirnov, plant chief engineer Alexei Stepanov and deputy chief engineer Yuri Kuznetsov were detained on Wednesday in the fuel oil spill case on suspicion of committing the crime stipulated in Article 246 of the Russian Criminal Code [violation of environmental protection rules during operation of industrial facilities by persons responsible for compliance with these rules, if this entailed severe consequences — TASS]. The court has not yet elected the restraint measure for Stepanov and Kuznetsov.
The loss of containment of the diesel fuel tank occurred on the territory of the combined heat and power plant CHPP-3 [owned by the Norilsk-Taimyr Energy Company, a member of the Norilsk Nickel Group] in Norilsk on May 29. About 21,000 tonnes of fuel were spilled in total on the area of 180,000 square meters of soil, penetrating water objects and causing pollution and damage to the environment.
