Only an official investigation can solve the mystery of the death of the Dyatlov group

The circumstances of the death of Igor Dyatlov's group, which happened in the Urals on February 2, 1959, still excite the minds of not only ordinary people, but also researchers. True, the latter sometimes do not look for the reasons for the death of hikers, but adjust the facts to their worldview, which can often be "from the evil one." Among those who conduct research at a serious level - through documents, testimonies of professionals and immersion in the era - writer and researcher Oleg Arkhipov stands out. For many years, he has been trying to understand what happened in this way. Oleg Arkhipov spoke about the results of his work in recent years, how the activities of the "Society for the Memory of Igor Dyatlov's Group" are progressing, and about "littering" the "Dyatlov" theme in an interview with Nakanune.RU.

Igor Dyatlov's group died tragically in the Northern Urals on the night of February 1-2, 1959, during a ski trip of the third, highest (at that time) difficulty category. The guys left Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) on ​​January 23, 1959. On February 12, the hikers were supposed to send a telegram from Vizhay about the successful completion of the trek, and three days later - to arrive in Sverdlovsk, but there was no news from them. The bodies were found from the end of February to May. The main versions are considered to be an avalanche theory, military-technological, murder by prisoners of Ivdellag or local residents.

— Oleg Nikolaevich, you have been studying the tragedy of the death of Igor Dyatlov's group for many years. What important discoveries have you managed to make in the last few years?

— I consider the main and, perhaps, fundamental unifying motives for a certain part of the research community to be the understanding that the so-called "Criminal Case Without a Number" is not the main documentary source in the story of the tragic death of Igor Dyatlov's group.

In this context, I can cite my discovery in September 2016, and the handwritten note from 1959 by the Ivdel city prosecutor Vasily Tempalov, first published in the media at the end of 2018. Despite the official attempt to explain (during the prosecutor's inspection of 2018-19) the date of the note from February 15, 1959 as an "error", I am forced, under pressure from a number of objective reasons, including documentary ones, to disagree with this statement.

The issue with Vasily Tempalov's note will be raised more than once. And the point in this matter is far from being put. Copies of documents in the materials of the so-called "Criminal case without a number" have been mentioned many times. The absence of round seals and corner stamps in the autopsy reports during the forensic medical examination conducted by the specialist of the Sverdlovsk Regional Bureau of Forensic Medical Examination Boris Vozrozhdenniy has been examined by more than one researcher, including those of a competent level. It is known that the May autopsy reports of the last four Dyatlov group (Lyudmila Dubinina, Nikolai Thibeaux-Brignolle, Semyon Zolotaryov, Aleksandr Kolevatov) are completely without the seal required in such documentary moments.

At the conference held on February 1 of this year, during one of the reports, arguments were made with the involvement of professional forensic experts, convincingly proving that the aforementioned autopsy reports of the last four (case sheets 345-348, 349-351, 352-354, 355-357) and the resolution to terminate further criminal proceedings (sheets 18-22 of the Supervisory Proceedings) were printed on the same typewriter of the regional prosecutor's office. The autopsy reports of the last four are not originals or even certified copies. In this case, it is appropriate to ask the question - what is this anyway? And on the basis of these reports, the commission forensic medical examinations of the Regional Bureau were conducted (January - February 2000), the results of which were first published in my monograph "Forensic Experts in the Dyatlov Group Case" in 2015.

Modern specialized experts work with them. But the handwritten protocol of the interrogation of forensic expert Vozrozhdenny from May 28, 1959 (case files 381-383) is the original. It noted regarding the nature of the fracture of the ribs of Dubinina and Zolotaryov that "the indicated injuries, namely with such a picture and without damage to the integrity of the soft tissues of the chest, are very similar to an injury caused by an air blast wave." I would also very much like to see the results of the forensic chemical examination conducted within the walls of the Regional Bureau (Rosa Luxemburg, 37) by specialists Dyominova and Chashchihina, regarding fragments of the internal organs of the first five deceased hikers. As is known, these acts, including the acts of the histological examination of the first five, were also removed from the investigative materials of the prosecutor's office.

Forensic expert of the Regional Bureau Boris Alekseevich Vozrozhdenniy (autumn 1955). From the archive of Oleg Arkhipov.

— Oleg Nikolaevich, you are a member of the leadership of the "Society in Memory of Igor Dyatlov's Group". Tell us about its work, what have you managed to achieve?

— The Interregional Public Organization "Society in Memory of the Igor Dyatlov Group", registered with the Ministry of Justice in February 2021, was a priori created, as they say, only for real cases. The organization's charter reflects two main areas: perpetuating the memory of the deceased tourists and a public initiative for a new official investigation by investigative bodies into the tragic events of 1959.

In literary language, we can say that this organization is a registered pressure group for the announced public initiative. In this case, only two entities can be noted. This is the institute and the relatives of the deceased Dyatlov group. Relatives are a great force in the matter of a new investigation. It is their constant appeals that can move the case from "dead center". Of course, we must not forget the public and the press. But from a legal point of view, it is the relatives who can significantly influence the current situation. Of course, we should not forget about the favorable conditions for such a serious format as an official investigation by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. On behalf of a legal entity of a public registered organization, we make inquiries to various representatives of government levels, supervisory and investigative bodies and supported participation in a competition to receive a grant for the purpose of creating a virtual exhibition within the walls of the UrFU museum.

As for perpetuating the memory of the Dyatlov group, in this matter, to our great satisfaction, in September of last year a memorial sign to the deceased group was solemnly opened on the territory of UrFU. For which we can once again express our deep gratitude to the initiators of the creation of the monument and the patron, Ural entrepreneur Dmitry Kireev. This is a very important event in a public format. Many do not even fully understand its significance. For decades, relatives of the deceased tourists, their friends, comrades, researchers and caring people literally fought as best they could so that this event would be reflected in reality.

— What is the relationship between the organization you represent and the "Dyatlov Group Memorial Fund"?

— Absolutely normal relations. At this point, it is necessary to bring some clarity. When our organization was created, it was immediately stated that we were not going to "compete" with the Fund. The goals and objectives of the Society are completely different. At the time when our Society was created, we needed a public organization with a legal entity. Which is what was done.

Unfortunately, the Kuntsevich Fund lost its legal "residence permit" during the period under discussion. We helped the newly created Fund, as an organization at UrFU, with our developments, including the creation of the charter. One cannot but welcome the fact that the organization at UrFU has been restored! The board and activists are working. We really hope to attract young people to the work of the Fund. And we know that such active steps are being taken. We now have common goals and interests, and when they are achieved, we are allies.

— In recent years, there has been a lot of information noise around the Dyatlov group tragedy, which interferes with the real search for information. In your opinion, why is this happening? Who is interested in "littering" the topic? Have there been people in recent years who want to hide behind the topic of the death of tourists in order to increase their own popularity?

— This is a long-standing process. And I think that such a "phenomenon" is not an isolated "product" of our topic only.

The great popularity and format of an unsolved mystery attracts a huge number of Internet users. Many are trying to bring their own conclusions in terms of creating versions, while completely ignoring documentary facts and the conclusions of professional experts. The topic of the death of the Dyatlov group is a very complex and multidimensional synthesis of many objective pieces of knowledge. This is both a territorial aspect and a historical, rather specific sector of the forensic spectrum, forensics and many other connecting nodes.

Alas, people often do not know or adjust known facts to their own version (and many of them simply "float" in the documentary depiction of events), as a result, a kind of "surrogate" is obtained.

And once again I will repeat that far from all documents directly related to the death of the Dyatlov tour group have been disclosed and formed for review in the public domain. With such a one-sided consideration and fantasies on a given topic, a lot of fictitious version "web" appears. In addition, the monetization of the Network allows some proactive citizens to quickly get down to business and contribute to the formation of a "soap bubble" of ranting and the creation of sensational theories. For them, this is a game with a shade of financial bills.

The only way out of such a "labyrinth" is knowledge. But not everyone is ready to sacrifice years of their lives for a thorough study of at least the factual component of the Dyatlov tragedy.

— What can researchers do in today's conditions to solve the mystery of what happened at the pass from February 1 to 2, 1959?

— No one will ever solve the mystery of the death of Igor Dyatlov's group with a confident end to this problem, despite the confident statements of dozens of authors of versions. And then only echoes of the "game" of the so-called "Dyatlov scholars" under the conditional title "The Mystery of the Dyatlov Pass". Unfortunately, many want it to continue forever. Only official structures can solve the mystery in the course of a real, unbiased investigative action. And historical and archival examinations must be fully involved in this. Simply put, the archives that tenaciously guard secret documents must be opened. But for this, the highest circles must come to an understanding of the timeliness of this step. The question is in political will and expediency. Only after this will the country's main supervisory body get involved in the case, and then the Investigative Committee specialists.