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Inquiry underway over Moscow court incident

The Moscow service of bailiffs will investigate how it was possible for a man to bring an ax into the court building

MOSCOW, April 24 (Itar-Tass) — The Moscow service of bailiffs will investigate how it was possible for a man to bring an ax into the court building.

On Monday, Muscovite Andrei Borodin with an ax attacked a judge in the building of the Moscow Tagansky district court. The judge took the decision to extend the arrest of the members of the scandal-known punk group Pussy Riot.

The bailiffs who were on duty in the court said that the metal detector did not signaled that Borodin had metal things with him, as acting head of the Moscow department of the Federal Service of Bailiffs Alexander Stebakov reported.

When Borodin was detained he said that the ax allegedly had been brought there earlier.

In any case, it is a prohibited object to bring in a court building. The service together with investigative authorities will investigate how it was brought in, Stebakov said.

According to the investigators' information, on Monday at about 11 o'clock, Borodin broke into the office room of federal judge of the Tagansky district court Yelena Ivanova and demanded to free the members of the Pussy Riot group. He attempted to strike the judge with the ax. The woman offered resistance to the attacker. Bailiffs in the court heard her cries and rushed to help her.

According to the preliminary information, the man was not in a drunken state when he attacked the judge. He will undergo a psychologo-psychiatric examination.

A criminal case is opened against Borodin under Article 295 of the Russian Criminal Code (an attempt on a justice administering person's life). The article prescribes 12 to 20 years in prison or life imprisonment.

The court warrant was issued on Monday to arrest Borodin. The man said he had intended to kill the judge.

The case of the Pussy Riot group, which staged an outrageous "punk prayer" in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, raised a wide public outcry. Three female suspects are in custody over the case.

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