All news

Moscow court arrests radio host’s attacker for two months

Radio host Tatyana Felgengauer was stabbed by an intruder armed with a knife at the radio station’s studio in downtown Moscow on October 23

MOSCOW, October 24. /TASS/. Moscow’s Presnensky court ruled on Tuesday that the man, who stabbed a host of the Ekho Moskvy radio station, will be kept in custody for two months, a TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom.

The judge satisfied a motion of the investigators. The attacker, Boris Grits, who holds Russian and Israeli passports, will be in custody until December 23.

The man, who was taken into the courtroom under a convoy, seemed to be depressed, but did not show any emotions or make any inadequate statements.

The investigator has pressed charges against Grits into an attempted murder. The defendant partially admitted his guilt, acknowledging that he wounded the woman, but he denied having "any intent to commit murder," she said.

Grits was characterized as an anti-social person, who has neither a family, nor a permanent place of residence nor a salary. The investigator also suggested that he could flee justice, insisting that placing him into custody during the investigation was the only possible decision.

The defendant refused to comment on the motives and circumstances of the attack, but asked for a milder pre-trial restriction.

The judge said Grits faces more than five years in jail if found guilty, insisting that he must be remanded in custody.

On October 23, Boris Grits entered the office of the Ekho Moskvy radio station on Moscow’s Novy Arbat Street and attacked radio host Tatyana Felgengauer, stabbing her in the neck. The man was detained by security personnel and handed over to the police. Felgengauer was taken to hospital, she has undergone a surgery and her condition is said to be serious but stable.

A law enforcement source said earlier that Grits was either mentally disturbed or suffered from a mental disorder.

During an interrogation, the man claimed to have had a telepathic contact with the journalist since 2012. He also said that Felgengauer had been "sexually harassing" him "though a telepathic link."