KEY POINTS:
After a two and a half year investigation, during which New Zealander Bruce Robinson was charged over the collapse of a hall roof in Poland which killed 65 people, authorities have determined a faulty roof design caused the tragedy.
Twelve people in total have been charged in connection
with the deadly winter roof collapse.
However, prosecutors in Katowice have determined that a faulty roof design caused the hall's roof to collapse under heavy snow in January 2006, said Marzena Matysik-Folga, a spokeswoman for prosecutors in Katowice.
The designers of the building, identified only as Jacek J. and Szczepan K. because of privacy laws, face the most serious charges of directly endangering lives, Matysik-Folga said on Friday. The two men face up to 12 years in prison, if convicted.
Two members of the building's governing board - Mr Robinson and Ryszard Z - were charged with failing to fulfil their responsibilities by holding a fair inside the hall despite knowing the roof was damaged, Matysik-Folga said. They face up to eight years, if convicted.
Seven others face charges ranging from failing to fulfil their duties to unintentionally or intentionally endangering the lives of others, she said. They also face eight years.
The building inspector, Maria K, was charged with not fulfilling her responsibilities and unintentionally causing the roof collapse, and faces up to three years in prison.
Matysik-Folga said one of the accused had confessed but did not say whom.
It was not immediately clear when the trial will start. None of the charged were available to comment.
About 500 people were inside the exhibition centre hall for an international pigeon fair when the roof buckled and collapsed under the weight of heavy, wet snow. Rescuers worked frantically in freezing temperatures to try to save those trapped under the twisted wreckage.
Sixty-five people died in the accident and more than 140 people were injured.
Mr Robinson's employer, Expomedia Poland, owned the building and the 44-year-old spent more than a year in prison in Poland after the collapse.
He was released on bail in March 2007, but his life remains in limbo. His passport has been confiscated, so he can not leave Poland.
Under Polish law defendants can kept in jail under "temporary arrest" while they are investigated.
Mr Robinson, who has joint British and New Zealand nationality, entered Poland on his New Zealand passport, eroding the ability of Britain to help him.
New Zealand embassy first secretary Michael Grace attended a number of his hearings and visited him several times in jail.
He wanted bail after being locked up for 22 hours a day with seven other inmates in a 15 square metre cell.
He was allowed out for an hour a day, granted one shower a week and a limited amount of food.
He was released on $145,000 bail.
Mr Robinson was managing director of Expomedia Poland, which had bought another company called MTK, which was run by the Polish Government.
A year before he joined Expomedia, MTK constructed the building which subsequently collapsed.
- NZPA