A Russian historian and Napoleon fanatic was sentenced to 12-and-a-half-years in jail for murdering and dismembering his younger lover final 12 months.
The Saint Petersburg trial, which spurred activists to voice rising anger over home abuse in Russia, started in June after delays because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Oleg Sokolov, 64, had admitted murdering 24-year-old Anastasia Yeshchenko however stated he dedicated the crime towards his former pupil and lover within the warmth of the second throughout an argument.
He was arrested in November final 12 months after he was discovered drunk and carrying a backpack containing a lady’s arms.
Choose Yulia Maximenko sentenced Sokolov on Friday to “12 years and 6 months in a strict regime penal colony” on fees of homicide and the unlawful possession of firearms.
“He was conscious of his actions on the time of the crime,” Maximenko stated as she learn out the decision, including that the intent to homicide arose “immediately”.
Sokolov, a historian who obtained France’s Legion d’Honneur in 2003, paced forwards and backwards because the sentence was learn, an AFP journalist following the trial reported.
In November final 12 months he was arrested after he was hauled out of the freezing Moika River in Saint Petersburg whereas drunk and carrying a backpack containing a lady’s arms.
Sokolov’s lawyer Sergei Lukyanov stated the defence “doesn’t agree” with the sentence however will resolve whether or not to attraction after receiving a replica of the decision.
Final week the courtroom heard the ultimate arguments within the case and prosecutors requested a 15-year-term.
Yeshchenko’s mother and father attended the sentencing on Friday.
Their lawyer Alexandra Baksheyeva instructed reporters that although “nothing can carry their daughter again” the household doesn’t intend to attraction the decision to request a harsher sentence.
The adorned historian authored a number of books on Napoleon Bonaparte and sometimes led historic reenactments of the French emperor’s 1812 Russian marketing campaign.
The ugly homicide shocked Russia after a lot of his college students stated Sokolov had exhibited inappropriate behaviour previously and demanded that administration on the college be investigated.
Yearly, practically 16.5 million girls throughout Russia fall sufferer to home violence, in keeping with activists.
Nonetheless, efforts to foyer for a specialised regulation towards violence and shield victims have failed.
