MOSCOW: Russian authorities announced a manhunt on Saturday after six convicts tunnelled their way out a correctional facility.
Four of the six fugitives have now been detained, while local law enforcement are in hot pursuit of the remaining two.
“I realize that the news may cause concern, but I ask you not to panic,” said Igor Artamonov, governor of the western Lipetsk region.
“Security forces are continuing efforts to track down and detain the criminals,” he added.
Prison guards were alerted to their disappearance after carrying out a routine inspection.
“In general regime penal colony No. 2, an underground tunnel was discovered during a patrol of the premises,” the prison service of the Lipetsk region said.
“Immediately a count of convicts got underway, which revealed the absence of six inmates,” it added.
It did not reveal their identities, but said in a statement the suspects were “from Central Asia.”
Four of the escapees were detained, two of whom were caught in the neighboring Tambov region, the local governor said.
“The search for the remaining two criminals continues,” he said.
The Lipetsk region is about 300 kilometers (190 miles) south of Moscow.
Russia has one of the highest prison populations in the world, totalling more than 400,000 people last year, but numbers have decreased as convicts are sent to fight in Ukraine.
Prison escapes are relatively rare in Russia and those who manage to break out are often quickly caught.
Manhunt in Russia after convicts tunnel out of jail
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Manhunt in Russia after convicts tunnel out of jail
- Four of the six fugitives have now been detained, while local law enforcement are in hot pursuit of the remaining two
- Prison guards were alerted to their disappearance after carrying out a routine inspection
Brazilian ex-President Jair Bolsonaro undergoes double hernia surgery
- He was granted court permission to leave prison after federal police doctors confirmed that he needed the procedure
- The surgery in Brasilia is expected to last about four hours
SAO PAULO: Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is undergoing double hernia surgery on Thursday at a hospital in the country’s capital, his family said.
Bolsonaro, who has been hospitalized since Wednesday, has been serving a 27-year prison sentence since November for an attempted coup.
He was granted court permission to leave prison after federal police doctors confirmed that he needed the procedure. The surgery in Brasilia is expected to last about four hours, the DF Star hospital medical team said in a statement Wednesday.
Doctors say Bolsonaro’s double hernia causes him pain. The former leader, who was in power between 2019 and 2022, has gone through several other surgeries since he was stabbed in the abdomen during a campaign rally in 2018.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversaw Bolsonaro’s coup trial and sentenced him to prison, authorized the procedure, but denied the former president’s request for house arrest after he leaves the hospital.
Bolsonaro doesn’t have any contact with the few other inmates at the federal police headquarters in Brasilia, where he is held and where his 12-square-meter (around 130-square-foot) room has a bed, a private bathroom, air conditioning, a television and a desk, according to authorities.
He has free access to his doctors and lawyers, but other visitors must receive approval from the Supreme Court. On Wednesday, de Moraes authorized Bolsonaro’s sons to visit him while he’s hospitalized. His wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, is accompanying him.
Early Thursday, his eldest son, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, told reporters before the surgery that his father had written a letter confirming he had appointed him as his political party’s presidential candidate in next year’s election. Flávio Bolsonaro announced on Dec. 5 that he will challenge President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is seeking a fourth nonconsecutive term, as the candidate of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party.
The senator read the letter to journalists, and his office released a reproduction of it to the media.
“He represents the continuation of the path of prosperity that I began well before becoming president, as I believe we must restore the responsibility of leading Brazil with justice, resolve and loyalty to the aspirations of the Brazilian people,” Bolsonaro said in the handwritten letter, dated Dec. 25.
The former president and several of his allies were convicted by a panel of Supreme Court justices for attempting to overthrow Brazil’s democratic system following his 2022 election defeat.
The plot included plans to kill Lula, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and de Moraes. There was also a plan to encourage an insurrection in early 2023.
Bolsonaro was also convicted on charges that include leading an armed criminal organization and attempting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law. He has denied any wrongdoing.
