Moscow, Russia

A conscript was sentenced to 24-1/2 years in prison by a Russian court on Thursday for killing eight people at a military base in 2019.

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Ramil Shamsutdinov opened fire on servicemen at the base in the far eastern region of Zabaikalsk on October 25, 2019. He was detained shortly after the incident and admitted he had killed the eight.

He, however, claimed the crime was provoked by bullying, the TASS news agency reported.

The defence will decide whether to appeal once it has seen the court's reasoning, the RIA news agency reported.

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His defence team said he was a victim of bullying. Shamsutdinov said in an open letter circulated by his lawyer on social media that he regretted he had been unable to restrain himself but he could not take any more mistreatment after his life was made "hell".

A jury in the Chita region had said Shamsutdinov deserved a relatively lenient sentence, RIA reported.