A Russian prisoner who escaped from Bruges prison during a hospital visit in early June has been arrested in northern France, the West Flanders public prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday.
The man, who is in his thirties, was detained in Englos by Lille judicial police after several weeks on the run.
He had been taken from Bruges prison to AZ Sint-Jan hospital in Bruges for surgery at the start of June.
During a moment when he was due to undress, he threatened prison officers with a sharp object and managed to flee.
Police quickly issued a wanted notice describing what he was wearing and urged the public not to approach him, but to contact the authorities immediately.
At the time of his escape, the prisoner was serving a 40-month sentence for violent theft.
An investigating judge has now started proceedings to have him handed over to the Belgian authorities.
Under current Belgian law, escaping prison itself is not a criminal offence, although any violence used to carry it out can still be prosecuted.
That will change in September, when the new Criminal Code comes into force and makes escaping prison a criminal offence in its own right.
