02:26Kazakhstan: Shopping mall floor paved with old tombstones sparks criminal case
Police in the eastern Kazakhstan city of Oskemen, or Ust-Kamenogorsk, have started an investigation on the actions of a construction company who is alleged to have used fragments of old tombstones in repairing a floor of a local shopping centre, as shown by footage shot on Monday.
Local resident Natalia Andreeva was one of the people who to her horror found out that the Alem shopping centre’s floor was made out of old gravestones, including that of her late father’s.
Her father was buried 15 years ago, and in 2014 the family decided to update the old tombstone. The stone was changed but the old one was never returned to the family.
Andreeva said she found out that her father’s tombstone was used to lay the shopping centre floor from her friends.
"It was a shock. To be honest, I just passed out. This was quite unexpected, it’s hard for me to even bring that up again," Andreeva said.
She went to the mall a day afterwards to see the floor herself.
"I came to the place where my dad’s gravestone was. It was exactly this one that was dusted with something on top. That is, it’s clear that there was a tombstone, they didn’t pull it out, they just dusted it. I walked along the mall, and there were more worn-out larger tombstones. That is, somewhere around 20, maybe 20 centimetres in size," Andreeva said.
"The next day, October 26, I lodged a complaint to the police. On Sunday I was called and told that a criminal case was opened, accepted under the article ‘vandalism’.
"Who allowed to put [tombstones of] buried, dead people in the floor, where thousands of people walk on? I think no one from the administration of the Alem shopping centre would be pleased to walk on the faces of their parents," said Andreeva.
The administration of the Alem shopping centre claim that the mistake happened due to unscrupulous actions of the contractor, who they accuse of hiding the purchase of old tombstones.
The granite installation company which was engaged in the floor laying on their turn said that they had purchased "no man's" monuments that were not intended to be used in real graves.
02:26Police in the eastern Kazakhstan city of Oskemen, or Ust-Kamenogorsk, have started an investigation on the actions of a construction company who is alleged to have used fragments of old tombstones in repairing a floor of a local shopping centre, as shown by footage shot on Monday.
Local resident Natalia Andreeva was one of the people who to her horror found out that the Alem shopping centre’s floor was made out of old gravestones, including that of her late father’s.
Her father was buried 15 years ago, and in 2014 the family decided to update the old tombstone. The stone was changed but the old one was never returned to the family.
Andreeva said she found out that her father’s tombstone was used to lay the shopping centre floor from her friends.
"It was a shock. To be honest, I just passed out. This was quite unexpected, it’s hard for me to even bring that up again," Andreeva said.
She went to the mall a day afterwards to see the floor herself.
"I came to the place where my dad’s gravestone was. It was exactly this one that was dusted with something on top. That is, it’s clear that there was a tombstone, they didn’t pull it out, they just dusted it. I walked along the mall, and there were more worn-out larger tombstones. That is, somewhere around 20, maybe 20 centimetres in size," Andreeva said.
"The next day, October 26, I lodged a complaint to the police. On Sunday I was called and told that a criminal case was opened, accepted under the article ‘vandalism’.
"Who allowed to put [tombstones of] buried, dead people in the floor, where thousands of people walk on? I think no one from the administration of the Alem shopping centre would be pleased to walk on the faces of their parents," said Andreeva.
The administration of the Alem shopping centre claim that the mistake happened due to unscrupulous actions of the contractor, who they accuse of hiding the purchase of old tombstones.
The granite installation company which was engaged in the floor laying on their turn said that they had purchased "no man's" monuments that were not intended to be used in real graves.