The train attendant received a one-year suspended sentence for injuring a passenger at Vitebsk station

A train attendant on the Minsk-Murmansk route has been sentenced to one year of probation for criminal negligence that led to a passenger's injury. A field court session on this case was held in Vitebsk.

On October 12, 2014, at the Vitebsk station, an elderly woman sustained severe bodily injuries. The passenger wanted to leave the Minsk-Murmansk train carriage while it was already in motion.

"A young attendant from the Minsk carriage depot of UP 'Minsk Branch of Belarusian Railway,' born in 1989, violated the rules of railway transport operation by opening the folding platform for the woman to disembark. On one hand, the passenger insisted on disembarking, but on the other hand, the attendant should have prevented it, anticipating potential danger," reported Artem Zaikin, assistant to the Vitebsk transport prosecutor.

As a result, the elderly woman fell on her back and hit her head while exiting the moving train, sustaining severe injuries. She has no claims against the attendant, and therefore did not attend the court hearing.

Considering this, as well as the fact that the accused is a single mother, the court sentenced the young woman under Part 1 of Article 314 of the Criminal Code (Violation of safety rules for movement or operation of railway transport) to one year of probation and a one-year ban from working as a passenger carriage attendant on trains. She resigned before the trial and is currently pursuing higher education.

"This is a rather rare case. In the practice of the Vitebsk Transport Prosecutor's Office, there have been no cases under this article for at least 10 years. Therefore, the session caused a significant stir among the employees of the Vitebsk Branch of Belarusian Railway, within whose carriage depot it took place.

Many, especially young attendants, were interested in how to act in such a situation. It was the last carriage, and according to the rules, its door should be open when the train departs. However, in any case, the folding platform should not have been opened for disembarking – it was for this violation that the attendant was punished," concluded Artem Zaikin.

Ekaterina Knyazeva, BELTA