Russia's top skydiving coach faces a prison term of up to five years for allowing a jump into near-hurricane force winds that led to serious injuries for a member of the national team, authorities said Monday.
Konstantin Sokolov, 49, faces criminal negligence charges for failing to check the weather report before skydiver Anna Dronova made a jump in October 2010, according to a statement on the Investigative Committee website.
Reports at the time said Dronova, a veteran of 400 jumps, suffered fractured vertebrae, a broken ankle and a ruptured spleen after winds reaching 28 meters per second sent her corkscrewing violently into the ground and dragged her through a field of rocks and stones.
"The investigation has gathered a large enough body of evidence to send a criminal case with an approved criminal indictment to court," the statement said.
"Sokolov, the jump leader and the main skydiving coach of the Russian team, ignored the approach of a cold weather front that was accompanied by heavy rain with thunder and strengthening winds of 22 to 28 meters per second," the statement said.
"As a result of Sokolov's negligence, one of the parachutists, a member of the Russian national team, received injuries just the jump that caused grave harm to her health."
Dronova gave television interviews from her hospital bed in St. Petersburg at the time.
"The sky was black, there were strong winds, a hurricane. I didn't understand why nobody called it off, why the pilot, why the instructor, why Konstantin Borisovich [Sokolov] allowed us to fly in these weather conditions."
Sokolov defended his actions at the time, saying Dronova was among a group of nine skydivers to jump that day.
"Three of them landed just fine before her, and so did the five who jumped after her," he said. "So, tell me, whose fault is it?"
There was no word of when Sokolov's case would come to court.
