Relatives of children, who drowned in Yeisk, urge State Duma to revise compensations for minors' deaths

Igor Trunov and Lyudmila Aivar, the lawyers of relatives of six Moscow schoolchildren, who drowned in the area of Yeisk Split of the Azov Sea in July 2010, have appealed to the State Duma of the Russian Federation with a proposal to amend the Article of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, which determines the amount of compensation for the deaths of minors.

Children, who rested in the "Azov" summer camp in the Krasnodar Territory, drowned in the Azov Sea on July 7, 2010. On July 1, 2011, the Yeisk City Court of the Krasnodar Territory sentenced Irina Ryabova and Alexei Bagryantsev, two staff members of the Moscow school, charged of criminal negligence that resulted in the deaths of schoolchildren to 4 and 2.5 year, respectively, to be served at settlement colony. The Krasnodar Regional Court upheld the verdict of the Yeisk Court.

Parents, whose children drowned in Yeisk, unsuccessfully tried to get compensation for material damage at the Tver Court of Moscow.

On February 8, 2012, the Moscow City Court, to which the parents of the deceased children appealed, partially granted their claim and obliged the educational institution to pay to each victim 500,000 roubles for compensation for moral damages. Furthermore, in accordance with the Court's decision, the school had to compensate the victims the funeral expenses, the "Yuga.ru" reports.

On June 22, the lawyers Igor Trunov and Lyudmila Aivar appealed to the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation with a complaint, which raised the question on the fact that the Constitution of the Russian Federation does not comply with the generally accepted principles and norms of international law on compensation for damage, caused to a child's life in Russia.

The subject of the claim was the uncertainty of the legal norm of Article 1087 and Article 1101 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation for compensation for damage to health of a minor. The lawyer Igor Trunov believes that the law under challenge contradicts the Constitution of the Russian Federation, since it contains no provisions for compensation for damage to a child's life, which in turn contradicts the principle of state guarantee for the protection of the rights and freedoms of a person and citizen.

Thus, according to the complainants, in case of death of a child, parents cannot claim extended compensation for damage in part of the lost possibility of obtaining material assistance from the future earnings of grown-up children.

In accordance with the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, parents of a deceased child have the right for partial compensation for cost of burial and compensation for moral damages. Meanwhile, according to the lawyer Igor Trunov, the amount of compensation for moral damage, which is determined by court, is generally negligibly small, and court punishes no one and helps no one, the RIA "Novosti" reports.

However, on September 24, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation pronounced the decision to refuse to consider the complaint on the merits, stating that the issues, raised by the lawyers, were the responsibility of the legislator.

Today, on behalf of the relatives of the six children, who drowned in the Azov Sea, the lawyers appealed to the Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation with proposals to voice the legislative initiative on amending Article 1087 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and resolving the issue of material damages in the event of death of a minor under 14 years old and/or a minor, who had no independent income. This was reported by the statement on the website of the "Trunov, Aivar and Partners" Bar.