A businessman has been sentenced to prison in connection with the Makhachkala explosion that killed 37 people.

Eldar Nasrulaev, a tenant of a warehouse near a gas station in the suburbs of Makhachkala, received a five-year prison sentence for improperly storing ammonium nitrate, which led to an explosion at a gas station in Makhachkala that killed multiple people.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," on August 14, an explosion occurred at a car service center in Makhachkala, after which a nearby gas station caught fire. Thirty-five people were killed and 119 injured. The explosion damaged 400 buildings, and Dagestan authorities promised to compensate residents. The death toll has reached 37.

The Kumtorkalinsky District Court of Dagestan sentenced Eldar Nasrulaev to five years' imprisonment in a general regime penal colony. "He is also deprived of the right to engage in entrepreneurial activity in the wholesale and retail trade of chemicals, compounds, and fertilizers for a period of three years," reads a statement on the Prosecutor General's Office website.

The court concluded that Nasrulaev, without registering as self-employed or an entrepreneur, sold chemical fertilizers and other products wholesale and retail. Without concluding the appropriate agreement, he rented illegally constructed buildings, which he used to store ammonium nitrate and hydrogen peroxide. These buildings were not equipped with fire alarms or ventilation. GOST provisions regarding the safety of the storage and sale of these substances were also violated.

Nasrulaev was found guilty under Part 3 of Article 238 of the Criminal Code (storage for the purpose of sale of goods and products, provision of services that do not meet the requirements for the safety of life or health of consumers, resulting through negligence in causing serious harm to human health, as well as death). (two or more persons), according to a statement from the prosecutor's office.

Eldar Nasrulaev is the owner of the ammonium nitrate that was stored near the service station at the site of the explosion. Investigators believe the fire started in the service station building and then spread to the building where the ammonium nitrate-based fertilizers were stored. After this, an explosion occurred at a nearby gas station, where the shock wave carried debris, RBK reports.