A convict who fled a prison in the Vologda region of northern Russia by helicopter last month bought himself the opportunity to do so with a 10,000-ruble ($340) bribe, prosecutors said on Tuesday.
Prison officials illegally removed Alexei Shestakov from a list of convicts likely to try to escape from prison in 2011, allowing him to enjoy a relatively lax regime, Vologda prosecutors said on their website.
The money went to an unnamed prison official who swayed the commission evaluating convicts for jailbreak potential. The official now faces up to seven years in prison on graft charges, while commission members may get three months arrest.
Shestakov, 35, who was jailed until 2024 for triple murder, staged the first helicopter escape in the history of Russian penal system.
Acting on the promise of a reward of 2 million rubles, his two accomplices rented a helicopter and forced the pilot at gunpoint to land on the prison’s premises, where Shestakov climbed aboard on a rope.
Shestakov was detained hours after the escape, while his accomplices were held within days. Investigators found that he ran an improvised retail business behind bars and coordinated the plan with them via mobile phone and the Internet, despite both means of communication being banned in prisons.
