Twenty-eight people were killed, including eight children, and more than 100 were injured when the glass roof of Transvaal Park, in southern Moscow, collapsed February 14, 2004. The aqua-park opened in the summer of 2002.
The case against architect Nodar Kancheli, 68, was closed Tuesday under an amnesty dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament.
A 20-month investigation into the case established that Nodar Kancheli, the chief designer in the Transvaal project, and Anatoly Voronin, the head of the Moscow project expert authority, were responsible for the tragedy at the futuristic glass and concrete center.
"Kancheli's guilt was completely proved," deputy prosecutor Vladimir Yugin said. "We were ready to go to court and convince it that construction mistakes made by the chief designer and architect Nodar Kancheli caused the aqua park's [roof to] collapse."
He said under the amnesty Kancheli would avoid punishment, but that all the other consequences of his crime will remain.
"Every person who considers that he suffered [from the Transvaal tragedy] has a right to seek compensation in court, as Kancheli is absolutely guilty," Yugin said.
The architect consistently denied any guilt, and suggestions were made at the time of the tragedy that builders might have substituted cheaper construction materials for those called for in the design.
Kancheli was also questioned after the roof at a Moscow market he designed collapsed on February 25 this year, killing at least 60 people.
