MOSCOW, March 25, 22:17 /ITAR-TASS/. The suspect in a high-profile murder in southern Moscow last year, Orkhan Zeynalov, has not admitted his guilt but investigators say that his involvement in the murder has been proven.
A spokeswoman for the Main Investigation Department of Russia’s Investigative Committee in Moscow, Viktoriya Tsyplenkova, has confirmed that the investigation into the criminal case against Zeynalov is over.
“At present, the accused and his lawyer have started familiarizing themselves with criminal case materials,” Tsyplenkova said.
Muscovite Yegor Shcherbakov, 25, was killed early on October 10, 2013, in Moscow’s Zapadnoye Biryulyovo district. During a conflict with an unknown man, Shcherbakov was stabbed in his heart with a knife and died. On October 13, local residents gathered in the district, demanding that the authorities find and punish the killer. Their gathering turned into riots, and 400 people were detained.
Zeynalov, a 30-year-old national of Azerbaijan, was detained in the town of Kolomna in the Moscow Region on October 15. He was charged with “murder out of hooligan motives”.
Tsyplenkova said investigators “established that on October 10, 2013, near Building 7 in Vostryakovsky Lane in Moscow, Zeynalov, using an insignificant pretext, during a verbal quarrel with Shcherbakov, attacked him, dealt him numerous punches, after which, while implementing his murder plan, produced a penknife and stabbed Shcherbakov twice with it”.
“One of the stabs was dealt right to the heart,” she recalled.
“Investigators fully restored the picture of what had happened. An entire set of investigative activities were held. Despite the fact that the accused did not admit his guilt, his version on self-defense is refuted by proof collected by the investigation,” Tsyplenkova added.
Meanwhile, Zeynalov’s lawyer Viktor Anikushin said the case materials contain 10 volumes. “Zeynalov does not admit his guilt,” Anikushin said.