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St. Petersburg university lecturer confesses to murder - lawyer

St. Petersburg’s Oktyabrsky district court has appointed a session to consider the arrest motion on November 11

ST. PETERSBURG, November 10. /TASS/. Oleg Sokolov, a lecturer of St. Petersburg State University and a historian suspected of murder of a young woman, has been interrogated by investigators and confessed to the murder, his lawyer Alexander Pochuyev told TASS on Sunday.

"He was interrogated at the investigative department. He (Sokolov) sticks to the confessionary position," the lawyer said.

Apart from that, he said charges have not yet been brought against his client. Most likely, it will be done on Monday. St. Petersburg’s Oktyabrsky district court has appointed a session to consider the arrest motion on November 11.

Pochuyev told TASS earlier his client had signed a plea bargain deal.

Early on November 9, Sokolov, born in 1956, was rescued from a river. He had a backpack with human remains. More fragment of a human body were found at his apartment. A criminal case was opened on murder charges (part 1, article 105 of the Russian Criminal Code). According to sources in law enforcement agencies, Sokolov’s victim was identified as Anastasia Yeshchenko, a postgraduate student who had been Sokolov’s co-author in joint studies and could have had close personal relationship with the man. Yeshchenko, born in Russia’s southern Krasnodar Territory, graduated from the St. Petersburg State University three years ago to continue as a postgraduate student.

According to a source in investigative bodies, Sokolov shot and killed Yeshchenko from a half-barrel gun on November 7 presumably during a quarrel.