vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #558 / Crime watch / Reading article...

A suspect in the case of the premeditated murder of Dmitry Fotyanov, a candidate for the Dalnegorsk Mayoral office, killed three days prior to the elections, has recently performed two suicide attempts, his lawyers citing assault from police as the main reason.

Alexander Fedotov, one of the two suspects arrested in relation with the murder of Fotyanov, slit his wrists in an isolation ward on February 18 and attempted to cut his abdomen in the presence of investigators from local criminal investigation department on February 22, news agencies reported.

According to the suspect’s lawyers, Fedotov is “constantly suffering assaults from criminal investigation officers who use illegal means of receiving information from the suspect,” Ria Novosti news agency cited a press statement from Primorye’s Attorney Chamber.

“Fedotov has repeatedly applied to the region’s Prosecutor Office pleading for it to guard him from unlawful actions from the criminal investigation department and claimed he would commit suicide if his plead is not satisfied. However, the threats from the department officers persist,” the agency cited the statement as saying.

According to the press-statement from Primorye’s Department of Inner Affairs, currently an inspection is being conducted into a possible assault case.

Dmitry Fotyanov, a candidate for the second round of Mayoral elections in the town of Dalnegorsk, was gunned down by unidentified attackers last October, three days prior to the elections. The election was then canceled after the candidates had withdrawn their applications for participation shocked by the murder of one of the candidates. Two of the three suspects, including Fedotov, were arrested and charged with the murder, the third person is yet to be seized.