An Uzbek citizen was detained in the southern Russian city of Orenburg after officers spent more than 12 hours trying to convince him not to end his own life by jumping from the roof of a courthouse, regional police said Wednesday.
The 20-year-old, who was not identified by name in the report, climbed onto the roof of a local court and was threatening to jump when police arrived on the scene at about 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the regional branch of the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Officers were unable to approach the man because of the design of the courthouse roof, so psychologists working with the regional police and emergency services were brought in to talk him down, the statement said.
After more than 12 hours of negotiations he was persuaded to come down from the rooftop, telling psychologists that “unrequited love” had driven him to the brink of suicide, the police statement said.
The lovesick man was promptly detained and charged with failure to obey police instructions.
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