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Court rules to arrest Belgorod resident accused of hostage taking

The defence had asked to release Vdovin on a 600,000-rouble bail

BELGOROD, April 24. /ITAR-TASS/. A court sanctioned the arrest of Belgorod resident Alexander Vdovin detained during an attempt to take hostages in an office of the Zapadny bank, a spokeswoman told Itar-Tass on Wednesday.

The detention time expired at 15:00, so the investigator requested the court to arrest Vdovin, spokeswoman for Belgorod's Oktyabrsk district court Yevgenia Soldovnikova said.

The defence had asked to release Vdovin on a 600,000-rouble bail.

On April 21, a gun-toting Vdovin burst into the Belgorod office of the Zapadny bank where three staffers were at the time, and demanded the return of 23 million roubles which he feared could be lost following withdrawal of the bank's operating license.

After negotiations with the authorities, he surrendered to police.

Regional police said the incident had become possible because the bank had not been guarded since license revocation.

Criminal proceedings against Vdovin were opened over hostage-taking.

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