Children's camp "Dream" closed near St. Petersburg with a scandal

The Investigative Committee of RUSSIA for the Leningrad Region opened two criminal cases under the article "Negligence" (part 1 of article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) on the fact of improper control over the quality and safety of services at the children's camp "Dream".

On June 12, by order of Rospotrebnadzor, all the children were urgently taken out of the Dream camp in the village of Michurinsky, Leningrad Region. According to the parents, they were warned about it on the same day. The children returned to the city late in the evening on three buses without accompanying them.

The reason for the harsh measures and inspections of the Investigative Committee was the complaints of the parents of children from large families of the Moskovsky district of St. Petersburg who had a rest in the Dream. Adults reported that the children in the camp were left to themselves, some were involved in games with sexual overtones. Some spoke about the aggressive behavior of some children, in particular, one of the guys was hitting his HEAD against the wall. According to Fontanka, the camp administration reported that the situation was complicated by several children from the same family, "who offend the younger ones and do not accept comments."

The investigation was taken under special control by the head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin. Inspections by Rospotrebnadzor and the Investigative Committee revealed numerous violations at Dream, in particular, the lack of HEALTH books for staff and testing for CORONAVIRUS infection. According to the materials of the COURT, as reported by Komsomolskaya Pravda in Petersburg, two camp employees were found to have covid-19 RNA . The virus was later found on the doorknob of the front door to the dining room and the door of one of the men's bathrooms.

The investigation confirmed that educational work was not carried out in the camp, there were no qualified specialists and educators. The fact of unlawful behavior towards children by adolescents who are on preventive records in the internal affairs bodies was also confirmed.

In a criminal case for the provision of services that do not meet safety requirements, the general DIRECTOR of Mechta LLC was detained. According to the Investigative Committee, the Priozersky City Court of the Leningrad Region refused the petition to choose a measure of restraint for him in the form of house arrest. The defendant's lawyer filed a complaint to declare illegal the decision to initiate a criminal case. In addition, on Monday, June 28, the court of second instance overturned the decision to close the camp, which Rospotrebnadzor had previously taken by court order. The decision will be appealed.

Two more criminal cases were initiated under the article "Negligence" on the fact of improper control over the quality and safety of services against officials of the territorial division of Rospotrebnadzor in the Leningrad Region and the administration of the Moskovsky district of St. Petersburg, who checked the camp before opening and did not control the readiness of the children's institution for a good rest .

In addition, the Investigative Committee submitted a proposal to the Governor of the Leningrad Region, Alexander Drozdenko, about violations and the exclusion of Mechta from the register of camps in the Leningrad Region.

However, DOL "Dream" is not the first time gets on the pencil of law enforcement agencies. So, in 2018, the appeal of the parents became the reason for the inspection of Rospotrebnadzor and the commissioner for children's rights in St. Petersburg, Svetlana Agapitova. Then there was no women's toilet in the camp, the fire alarm was out of order, and the insulation of electrical wires and cables was broken. Parents wrote that children were injured in the Mechta camp. According to media reports, one child was diagnosed with a closed craniocerebral injury and a hematoma on the right eyelid after the camp in the clinic. In 2019, a 10-year-old boy was hospitalized from Mechta with a traumatic brain injury. As it turned out, he fell out of the window of the second floor of the building in the camp.

In the camp, mostly children from large families from different regions of St. Petersburg rested. In 2018, parents created a closed group on a social network where they collect facts about violations in the camp.