NOVOSIBIRSK, August 11 (RIA Novosti) - A court in Russia's Novosibirsk Region has denied parole to a convict who tunneled out of prison and enjoyed two years of freedom before he was tracked down, a court spokesman said on Tuesday.
Yevgeny Pechyonkin escaped from a Novosibirsk prison in 2000 by digging a 113-meter (370-foot) tunnel. The criminal's toil earned him two years of freedom before he was detained in the city of Volgograd, 900 kilometers (550 miles) southeast of Moscow.
Despite his impudent escape, through the longest tunnel in the history of Russian prisons, Pechyonkin was only sentenced to 2 1/2 years.
Investigators later discovered that while at large the criminal returned to fraud, and his sentence was extended by 5 1/2 years. Taking his original sentence into consideration, Pechyonkin, 47, is due to be in prison till 2013.
In spring 2009, the convict asked the court to release him on parole, arguing that he had already served half his term and according to Russian law had the right to be released early as his crime was not considered grave.
Prison officials opposed Pechyonkin's release, stating that the term he had already served was not enough for him to reform. They argued that the convict had not been a model prisoner and had incurred disciplinary sanction while behind bars. As a result, after considering Pechyonkin's petition the court on Monday refused to release him.
