MOSCOW, September 16 (RAPSI, Diana Gutsul) – The parents of a high school student who shot two people and held his classmates hostage last winter are being sued for 9 million rubles ($236,900), the victims’ lawyer, Igor Trunov, told RAPSI on Tuesday.
The Butyrsky District Court in Moscow recently resumed the trial of the teen’s case.
According to Trunov, a lawsuit has been filed against the attacker’s mother and father to collect 3 million rubles ($78,970) in moral damages on behalf of each of the three plaintiffs: the mother, the wife and the son of the killed geography teacher.
Pensions for the loss of a breadwinner include a one-time payment for the period after a breadwinner’s death to the end of the pretrial investigation and the trial, and a monthly pension amounting to one-third of a diseased breadwinner’s salary, payable until the child comes of age, the lawyer said.
The next hearing has been set for September 24.
On February 3, a high school student made his way into the school with a rifle by threatening a guard who immediately called the police. The teen barged into a classroom where his geography teacher was giving a lesson and fatally shot him, then held about 20 students hostage, authorities said.
The gunman also shot a police officer who arrived on the scene and wounded another, police said.
The suspect was detained and officially charged with murder, intent to commit murder, and the taking of hostages.
One of the students told the Life News television network that the attacker was one of the best students in the class and was not involved in any conflicts at school, including with the murdered teacher. However, Kommersant newspaper said the student was angry at the teacher for preventing him from being awarded a gold medal for academic performance. Investigators report that the suspect fired no less than 11 shots, wielding two carbines legally registered to his father.
In accordance with the Russian Criminal Code, underage criminals face a maximum sentence of ten years in a juvenile correctional facility.
Following the above incident, Russian lawmakers reacted with a number of new laws, including proposals to ban violent videogames and scenes of child violence on TV.