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Prosecutor Protests Release of Russian Embassy
Hostage Taker
Costa Rica's chief prosecutor, Francisco
Dall'Anesse appealed yesterday the court's
decision over the weekend to release, Roman
Bogdanyants, on bail and not accept the
prosecution's request for six month's preventive
detention.
Bogdanyants held hostate at gunpoint eight
people inside the Russian embassy in San José
for more than four hours before surrendering to
police.
The incident inside the diplomatic centre began
shortly after 12:30m and ended, peacefully and
without any injuries, minutes before 5:00pm,
after the man asked for a bottle of water and
cloak to hide his face from the cameras, after
dropping a demand for us$50.000 dollars.
In the day following, it was learned that the
hostage incident was not as it totally appeared,
rather Bogdanyants was taking revenge against a
person who happened to be inside the embassy at
the same time, over an accusation of fraud.
According to the Russian ambassador who was
inside the diplomatic centre, in a secured area
and away from the gunman, telling the press that
all was calm and that is a settling of a score
and that though he could leave, he chose not to
until the drama ended.
On Saturday as judge of the Segundo Circuito de
Goicochea released Bogdanyants on bail with the
condition that he remain in the country.
Yesterday, Dall'Annesse strongly criticized the
judges decision, filing a motion to revoke
Bogdanyants freedom and be held while the
investigation continues and formal charges are
laid.
According to the Russian ambassador,
Valery Nikolayenko, no hostages were taken
inside the embassy and that incident was only a
dispute between the two men.
Russian embassy workers also live inside the
compound in separate living quarters from the
public functions area. Only the ambassador has a
separate residence away from the embassy, and
the reason why embassy officials perhaps did not
leave at the start of the incident.
Because the embassy is governed by diplomatic
treaties, police outside could not move on to
the embassy without the word of Russian
officials and had to stand by outside waiting
for the drama to unfold,
Once the man decided to give himself up, through
the efforts of a Russain enterpretor, the
special unit under the direct command of the
Costa Rican presidency, the only police force
with authority to enter a diplomatic centre, the
Unidad Especial de Apoyo (UEA), took the man out
of the embassy and handed him over to the
Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) -
judicial police, where he was promptly
transferred to a police cell waiting his
appearance before a judge.
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