(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) As many as 18 inmates, including 14 Emiratis, one Ukrainian, one Uzbek, one Afghan, and one Pakistani, were charged on Sunday in the Court of First Instance with premeditated murder of an Emirati inmate.
The 18 inmates were caught on the CCTV cameras of the Central Prison taking part in the fight on August 20 last year. The fight involved more than 50 prisoners.
Five other inmates including a Georgian, an Uzbek, two Russians, and a Kyrgyzstani were charged with attempted murder.
It all began when a group of inmates took advantage of an electronic gate which was momentarily opened for a prisoner to get inside after meeting his visitors. The group sneaked through the gate leading to a section where they were barred from entering.
The on-duty corporal tried to stop them but he was threatened of being killed if he closed the gate. The corporal was, however, discharged from his position later.
Once in the section, the group started a fight with a Russian gang. The victim then intervened with a sharp tool to back his Russian friends. The inmates went back to their cells and returned shortly with about 40 prisoners, some of them carrying sharp tools they made in the prison. Five of them then cornered the victim in a spot away from the surveillance cameras.
They beat him up for around 15 minutes while the others stood around preventing others from interfering.
An Iraqi inmate who witnessed the fatal assault and dragged the victim away to protect him, told the police that two weeks earlier he had overheard five of the main defendants planning to kill the victim describing him as 'the Eid sacrifice'. The witness was nearing the completion of his prison term and pleaded the police and prosecution to wait for him to finalise his release procedures before he gave an official statement.
The witness added that one of the defendants, identified as R.G., had a fight with the victim even before entering the prison. He and his brother (also a defendant) held a grudge against the victim who had earlier cut off R.G.'s finger.
While one of them stabbed the victim with a piece of metal, three others hit him with a metal plate and a stick, and yet another cut off his ear. The Iraqi inmate wrapped the severely injured victim later with a blanket and took him down for medical assistance. But he died on his way to Rashid Hospital.
A police lieutenant said that every inmate who was caught with injuries at the same time of the incident have been accused in the case. "Many of them were also caught on camera entering the gate and later heading towards the victim's cell."
The forensic doctor said the victim succumbed to the injuries he received in his neck, chest and abdomen.
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