Russian ex-prison boss commits suicide in court

MOSCOW: A former top official in the Russian prison service shot and killed himself in a Moscow court on Wednesday shortly after being jailed for extortion, a court spokeswoman said. Viktor Sviridov, who previously headed the prison service´s transport department, “committed suicide in the courtroom by shooting himself in the chest”, a spokeswoman for Moscow City Court told AFP. She did not provide further details. The pistol Sviridov used was given to him as an award, his lawyer Alexander Kotelnitsky told Rossiya 24 television. Sviridov had pleaded guilty to extorting 10 million rubles ($159,000) from a former deputy director of the prison service. The Chertanovo district court sentenced him to three years in a penal colony.