A former Russian prison service official killed himself by pistol in a courtroom after being given a three-year jail term for corruption, officials confirmed on Wednesday.

The 71-year-old Viktor Sviridov was at one time the head of the prison service's transport department. Sviridov used his own gun to take his life in Moscow's Chertanovsky court, local officials said.

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Security questions raised

Authorities believe it was the defendant himself who brought the weapon into the coutroom, court spokeswoman Ulyana Solopova told the Interfax news agency. They are currently reviewing the surveillance video and trying to determine how Sviridov has managed to bypass security, she added.

The officials were also checking the court's security measures.

Solopova denied local media reports that metal detectors at the court's entrance were out of order. She said the devices "were working in the morning and during the day."

Sviridov suffered from cancer

The defendant Sviridov, who was under house arrest before the trial and traveled to the courtroom from his home. On Wednesday, he was sentenced to three years of strict imprisonment in a penal colony after he was found guilty of extorting 10 million rubles ($158,000, €145,500) from the service's former deputy director.

Sviridov's attorneys stated that their client was suffering from stage-4 terminal cancer and asked the judge not to send him to prison. A plea that ultimately fell on deaf ears.

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jsi,dj/rc (dpa, AP, Interfax)

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