IRKUTSK, August 22 (RIA Novosti) - A convict who disappeared earlier this week and was later pronounced dead by the authorities at a prison in Russia, was discovered on Thursday “alive and unhurt,” the local penitentiary service reported.
The convict, who was serving a sentence for rape in a prison near the Siberian town of Sayansk, was reported missing Monday. The penitentiary service reported Wednesday that prison staff had found his dead body, which was buried on prison territory – but later retracted that information and said he was alive.
“Convict Sergei Gornostayev was discovered in the morning of August 22, 2013 by Sayansk prison staff, alive and unhurt,” the penitentiary service spokesman said.
The spokesman declined to confirm whether a dead body had actually been discovered Wednesday, saying only that the service launched an interior investigation into the mix-up.
Gornostayev said he had been hiding inside the prison when the misidentification happened, for “personal reasons,” the spokesman added.
