The co-owner of a Russian nightclub where a fire killed 156 people in 2009 was sentenced on Monday to six and a half years in jail.
Konstantin Mrykhin arranged the indoor fireworks display which caused the blaze at the Lame Horse nightclub in Perm, some 1,200 kilometers east of Moscow.
Mrykhin, who was arrested in Spain after fleeing Russia in 2010, was also ordered to pay 200 million rubles ($6.6 million) in compensation to the relatives of the victims.
The fire, the worst in Russia’s modern history, prompted spot checks on the all country’s nightclubs.
Charges have also been brought against eight other people, including the club’s co-owner Anatoly Zak.
Russia’s fire safety record is poor. Some 12,000 people died in fires across the country in 2011, according to emergencies ministry figures. The United States, with a population over twice as large, saw around five times fewer fire-related fatalities.