KRASNODAR. Dec 8 (Interfax) - Police in Russia's Southern Federal District have released a group of people who presumably were being used as slave labor by the Artex-Agro firm owned by the mother of Sergei Tsapok, the suspected organizer of the murder of 12 people in the village of Kuschevskaya, police spokesman Roman Schekotin said.
"Local police officers conducted an operation to release the people who were being used as slaves by the Artex-Agro company," he told Interfax on Wednesday.
Schekotin did not say how many people were released.
In 2009, investigators received reports that Artex-Agro was allegedly using slave labor, a spokesperson for the Krasnodar Territory Investigative Office told Interfax.
"When these 'slaves' were brought to the investigator, they said they were working voluntarily and were carrying their passports," the official said.
Due to this, no criminal investigation was launched. Currently, an inquiry is under way to ascertain the legality of that decision, he said.
It was reported earlier that the bodies of 12 people, including three children, were discovered inside a farmer's two-story house destroyed by fire in the village of Kushchevskaya, Krasnodar territory.
The victims were identified as the owner of the house, his wife, daughter-in-law and granddaughter, as well as the family's guests from Rostov-on-Don - Aston company financial director Vladimir Mironenko, his wife, the wife's parents and two daughters.
Investigators believe that one of the children died from carbon monoxide poisoning, another child was strangled, while the other 10 people died from multiple stab wounds. The victims were stabbed three to ten times with a knife, investigators said.
A criminal case was opened on charges of murdering two or more people. Investigators are focusing on two main theories for the slaughter: revenge and robbery.
Six people were arrested on charges of committing the murder. They are local residents Alexei Gurov, 24, his younger brother Yevgeny, 20, Vyacheslav Skachedub, 16, Igor Maidanyuk, 17, as well as Sergei Tsapok and Sergei Tsepovyaz.
The Kushchevsky district administration later reported that Tsepovyaz was a deputy in a local parliament.
Krasnodar territory Governor Alexander Tkachyov said on November 17 that he decided that "Deputy Head of the Kushchevsky District Mr. Nalivaiko, who is responsible for interaction with law enforcement bodies, will be dismissed from his position."
The governor demanded that Kushchevsky district police chief Viktor Burnosov, his first deputy Vyacheslav Semenikhin and senior investigator Tatyana Malykhina be dismissed immediately.
Other local high-ranking police officers should be reprimanded harshly, he said.
Tkachyov fired Kushchevsky district deputy head Nikolai Nalivaiko, who was responsible for cooperation with law enforcement services.
Kushchevsky district police chief Burnosov said at a news conference on November 18 that he had decided to resign.
Prosecutors also found that Artex-Agro submitted false information and obtained over 15 million rubles in federal and regional subsidies in 2010.
Due to this, the Main Investigative Directorate of the Krasnodar Territory Central Police Department opened two criminal cases on the charge of negligence against officials from the Agricultural Department, the local processing industry and the Russian Tax Service's inspectorate for the Kuschevskaya district.
Also, a criminal case was launched against Artex-Agro employees on charges of conspiracy to commit massive fraud, prosecutors said.
In late November, a source from Krasnodar Territory's law enforcement authorities told Interfax that searches were carried out as part of the inspection of the firm's operations.