Murder suspect escapes from Moscow prison

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MOSCOW, May 8 (UPI) -- The mother of a prisoner who escaped from a maximum-security prison in Moscow asked police during a filmed interview not to open fire on her son.

"I do not want police to fire a bullet into his head," Yekaterina Topalova told Russia's online Life News tabloid. "He turned himself to police before his arrest. We do not believe he is guilty and we want to prove this to everyone. We want more time for this!"

Her son, Oleg Topalov, 33, allegedly killed a Russian mafia lord and was arrested in 2011.

On Tuesday, Topalov broke out of Matrosskaya Tishina pretrial detention facility in east Moscow, RIA Novosti reported.

Authorities said he made a hole in the ceiling and escaped through an air vent.

He then walked across the premises and climbed over the outer wall using a rope made of bed sheets.

Topalov was sharing the cell with several other inmates, but none of them followed Topalov or sounded the alarm.

City police are on the lookout for Topalov and are investigating whether prison guards helped him escape, RIA Novosti said.