The Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) started a criminal case following the death of Andrei Braguta in jail. Seven persons are investigated as suspects in this case, Prosecutor General Eduard Harunjen was quoted by IPN as saying.

Five of the suspects are held in the remand prison of the National Anticorruption Center. These include two detainees and three employees of the police inspectorate where Andrei Braguta was placed before being taken to the penitentiary. Two of the suspects, who stayed in the same cell together with the victim and were later set free, are to be arrested.

The police inspectorate’s employees are suspected of hiding the acts of violence to which Andrei Braguta was subject by cell mates.

“We are thoroughly examining each hour of Braguta’s stay in state custody. We are examining his contact with employees of the state to give a legal assessment of their actions or inaction. We are separately analyzing the actions or inaction of decision makers of other state institutions connected with this case, such as penitentiaries, medical institutions, judges and prosecutors,” stated Eduard Harunjen.

Chief prosecutor of the PGO’s Prosecution Division Adrian Mircos said the investigation started with delay because the information about Andrei Braguta’s death was presented much later given the non-observance of procedures by representatives of the Department of Penitentiary Institutions and the police.

The 32-year-old man was arrested after he came into a conflict with patrolling inspectors who imposed a fine for speeding on him in the middle of August. The General Police Inspectorate specified that the young man died from respiratory failure and purulent bronchopneumonia and this fact was confirmed by medical certificates. The bruises that the young man had on the body were the result of aggression on the part of his cell mates, who said that Braguta had a deviant behavior.