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Court rejects request to remove messages about “locked children” in Crocus
A judge at a dance competition held at Crocus Expo on the day of the March attack filed a lawsuit after receiving a report that children were trapped in the building.
The Savelovsky Court of Moscow has rejected the claim of dance competition judge Karina Kalinicheva, who demanded that the Telegram channel remove a publication about the illegal evacuation of minor participants in a sports event from the Crocus Expo building on the day of the terrorist attack. This is stated in the court's decision (information about the plaintiff is hidden in the publicly available text, but the claims were known earlier).
On the evening of March 22, a terrorist attack occurred at the Crocus City Hall hotel in Krasnogorsk near Moscow. At the time, a dance competition was taking place at the neighboring Crocus Expo, where Kalinicheva was one of the judges. After the terrorist attack, information began to spread on the Internet that minors participating in sports events were not allowed to leave the Crocus Expo building, which Kalinicheva herself stated in her statement of claim. In her claim, Kalinicheva claimed that the defendants had spread false information that damaged her honor, dignity, and business reputation, as a result of which she was subjected to public persecution.
Olga Lukmanova, a lawyer and head of the charity My Ryadom, had previously accused Kalinicheva of insisting on continuing the tournament when children were told to dance and “not go anywhere.” In a comment to News.ru, she said that she had written a statement to the prosecutor’s office and the Investigative Committee demanding an investigation into the tournament’s organizers.
One eyewitness also told RBC that the Russian ballroom dancing championship, held at Crocus Expo, continued for some time after shooting began in the neighboring Crocus City Hall. He said that after the shooting was reported, the organizers told him that he could continue dancing, but a fire broke out.
According to him, people spent about 20 minutes looking for an exit, and the statement of the All-Russian Dance Sport Federation about the successful organization of the evacuation is not true. "We were very lucky," the RBC interlocutor said.
On the evening of March 22, armed terrorists attacked the Crocus City Hall before a group picnic concert. They opened fire on people, and a fire broke out in the building, covering more than 13,000 square meters. The next evening, the lights went out completely. As a result of the terrorist attacks and fires, more than 140 people died and more than 500 were injured. During the investigation, 20 people were detained, including four of the perpetrators of the terrorist attack. They turned out to be citizens of Tajikistan Muhammadsobir Faizov, Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, Saidakram Rachabalizoda and Shamsidin Fariduni.