A crime suspect detained in Siberia was so daunted by the case materials against him that he attempted to swallow them, officials said.
When investigators in the Kemerovo region presented the 32-year-old murder suspect with pages of evidence against him, he demanded to also see videotaped evidence that was included in the case, the regional branch of the Investigative Committee said in a statement Thursday.
When the officer left the interrogation room to fetch a video player, the suspect started "tearing out pages of the case, trying to eat them," the statement said.
"However, that did not work out for him, and he then tried to set the case on fire," the statement said. It did not elaborate whether it was the sheer bulk of the case or something else that prevented the man from completing his meal.
Investigators were monitoring the room via surveillance cameras and hastily returned to prevent the pages from being devoured by flames, the statement said.
The suspect now faces an additional charge of interfering with the investigation, the statement said.
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