Moscow (dpa) – Two people were killed and six injured when a fight broke out at a prison camp in Russia’s far east, authorities said on Sunday, according to the Interfax news agency.
The reasons for the brawl, which took place in a prison facility in the city of Amursk, about 6,000 kilometres east of Moscow, are still being investigated. Authorities are also investigating whether the prison guards did everything they could to prevent violence.
According to Interfax, two groups of prisoners, some armed with knives, were at the centre of the brawl.
One party had agreed to instructions from prison guards, while others did not, Interfax said. The situation is now under control.
The brawl comes as the country is already debating the conditions and levels of violence in prison camps following the imprisonment of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
Russia’s prison camps are notorious for renewed outbreaks of violence, according to countless eyewitness reports, and time and again there are reports of brawls between groups of prisoners.