MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/. The inmates who took hostages at Russia’s Penal Colony No. 19 had planned the attack in advance, a law enforcement source told TASS.
"There are reasons to say that the hostage-taking was prepared in advance and was well-planned," he said.
Earlier on Friday, four inmates took the prison’s eight staff and four other inmates hostage. They inflicted stab wounds on four of the employees, and three of them died. The other four staff members were hospitalized, and one of them died at a hospital. The criminals also caused injuries to the four other inmates. Russian Federal Penitentiary Service forces later killed the hostage-takers and freed the hostages in a special operation.
Three of the hostage-takers had been convicted of drug trafficking and another one for manslaughter in a brawl. Two of them hailed from Tajikistan and two others from Uzbekistan. One of the convicts was set to be released in November 2024.