A man who took four people hostage inside a Citibank branch in downtown Moscow on August 24 has been sent to pretrial detention.
A court in Moscow on August 26 put Aram Petrosyan under arrest until October 24.
Petrosyan announced that he started a hunger strike to protest his incarceration.
Earlier on August 26, Petrosyan was officially charged with hostage taking. If found guilty he may face up to 15 years in jail.
Petrosyan, 55, entered the Citibank branch claiming that he had a bomb.
The hostages, who included three bank employees and one customer, were freed unharmed several hours later.
The supposed explosive device Petrosyan had around his neck turned out to be fake.
Petrosyan insists that his intention was to attract top officials’ attention to problems faced by bankrupted businessmen in Russia.
