Student Leaves Website Message Before Suicide

An Omsk University student took a lethal dose of sodium nitrite in a campus building on Friday, before writing on his profile page on the Russian social network site VKontakte that he was going to take his own life “voluntarily” due to “philosophical convictions,” the regional Internal Affairs Ministry said.

“We have recorded a confirmed suicide, the case has been transferred to the Investigation Committee,” the ministry said.

Doctors tried to save the student, Igor Chernov, but he died while being taken to hospital.

Russia ranks third in the world in the incidence of suicides by adolescents, with a rate more than three times higher than the world average, according to UNICEF data published in November 2011.

The level of adolescent depression is about 20 percent in Russia, whilst in Western countries it is generally below 5 percent.

 

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