Russian Historian Oleg Sokolov Gets 12 Years Jail For Killing His Lover Anastasia Yeshchenko
Russian court has sentenced historian Oleg Sokolov to 12-and-a-half years in prison for killing his girlfriend. On Friday, St. Petersburg court judge Yulia Maximenko handed down the sentence of the 64-year-old historian who received France’s highest state honor, the Legion of Honour.
In the nearly decade-old case, Sokolov is accused of killing his girlfriend, student Anastasia Yeshchenko, and cutting off her hand. In November 2010, Sokolov was found drunk on the frozen Mica River in St. Petersburg. At that time, a woman’s severed hand was found in the bag he had. After a while, the police started investigating the incident.
Sokolov first told police he fell into the river while intoxicated. At that time the bag somehow got into his hands. But the investigation shows that the amputated hand belongs to the 24-year-old student and lover of the professor of St. Petersburg University. In the end, he confessed in the face of the interrogation that Yeshchenko had been killed in the ensuing tensions. Sokolov said he cut off his lover’s arms, legs and head with an electric saw in order to destroy evidence after the murder. Then he packed his bags and went to throw them into the river.
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The trial is set to end this year, but has been postponed until June due to extreme circumstances. A few months later, Sokolov’s lawyer, Alexander Pachuyev, told reporters, “My client has confessed to the crime and is cooperating with the police in the investigation.” But even if the perpetrators are punished, Yeschenko will not return. ”
Incidentally, Sokolov was awarded France’s highest state honor, the Legion of ‘Honour, in 2003 for his research on French history of the Napoleonic era.
