Spanish police have arrested the commercial director of a nightclub in the Urals city of Perm where 155 people died in a fire last December, the police said on Thursday in a statement.
A fire swept through the Lame Horse nightclub in Perm, 1,400 kilometers east of Moscow, on December 5, 2009, when an indoor firework display malfunctioned.
Konstanin Mrykhin is wanted in Russia as a suspect over involuntary manslaughter charges.
Mrykhin was the organizer of the pyrotechnical show, which was in violation of fire regulations. He apparently left the country immediately after the accident and had been living at his house in Barcelona, where he was detained.
The Spanish courts will now consider a request for Mrykhin's extradition to Russia, where he may face up to 10 years imprisonment.
Charges were brought against eight other people. The club's co-owner Anatoly Zak, executive director Svetlana Yefremova and art director Oleg Fetkulov were also charged with manslaughter.
Fireworks suppliers Igor and Sergei Derbenev were charged with breaching fire safety rules.
The Perm region's fire watchdog chief Vladimir Mukhutdinov was accused of abuse of office, while inspectors Dmitry Roslyakov and Natalia Prokopyeva face charges of negligence.
Russia has a poor fire safety record, with over 6,711 fire deaths registered in the first half of 2010.
MADRID, September 2 (RIA Novosti)
