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Moscow court releases suspect after AI-induced arrest

Alexander Tsvetkov was detained at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport 10 months ago

MOSCOW, December 11. /TASS/. A court in Moscow has released from pre-trial detention a man who was previously arrested in a murder case of 20 years ago based on artificial intelligence-based suspicion.

The suspect is hydrologist Alexander Tsvetkov, the court told TASS.

The court ruled that Tsvetkov, charged under part 2 of article 105 of the Criminal Code (murder of two or more persons), shall abide by a ban on certain actions, the court said. Earlier, Tsvetkov’s investigator asked court to ease the restrictive measure against the suspect.

Tsvetkov, a resident of the city of Yaroslavl, was detained at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport 10 months ago. An image drawn up with the help of artificial intelligence was the reason: the AI program found that Tsvetkov's photo was 55% identical to the image of the suspect in the cruel murders of four people in Moscow and the Moscow region in 2003. The research institute where the scientist has worked since 1996, provided the investigators with a confirmation that the suspect was on business trips in the Vologda and Kostroma regions when the murders were committed. Tsvetkov pled not guilty.

At President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with Human Rights Council members on December 4 human rights activist Yeva Merkacheva raised the issue of Tsvetkov's case. Putin replied that he considered artificial intelligence to be working very effectively in many areas and called for making appropriate conclusions if there were any failures.

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