A Russian court has sentenced a young man accused of wanting to kill a school to 10 years in prison, authorities said on Wednesday, a week after a deadly school shooting.
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The Buryat region investigative committee said the suspect, now 20, was found guilty of "
illegally manufacturing explosives
" and "
preparing
" for multiple killings. According to this powerful investigative body, from November 2018 he had consulted a lot of information on the Internet related to killings in schools. He then decided to commit "
a similar crime
" in a technical establishment in the city of Ulan-Ude by activating explosive devices and then using a firearm "
to kill students and teachers,
" he said. the Investigation Committee.
According to this source, the accused had detonated an abandoned house to test his explosives. He had also proposed to three acquaintances to join his project but they refused, according to the Investigation Committee. He was finally arrested after having visited the establishment on several occasions, according to this source, and will have to serve his sentence in a penal colony under "
severe regime
"
The conviction comes a week after a shooting that claimed the lives of seven children and two teachers at a school in the city of Kazan, in central Russia. The alleged perpetrator, aged 19, was arrested. He claimed to be a "
God
" after his arrest. This drama sparked a debate on access to weapons and Internet content glorifying violence. President Vladimir Putin has notably called for tougher rules for carrying weapons. In 2018, after another massacre, he blamed “
globalization
”, believing that the phenomenon of school shootings came from the United States.