ST. PETERSBURG, November 13. /TASS/. Russia’s St. Petersburg State University said on Wednesday it had sacked historian Oleg Sokolov, charged with murdering one of the university’s postgraduate students.
According to a statement available on the university’s website, "a labor contract with Sokolov has been terminated in line with paragraph 8, part 1, Article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation (commitment of an immoral deed by an employee who is performing pedagogical functions if this immoral deed makes continuation of performing job function by this employee impossible)."
Early on November 9, Sokolov, born in 1956, was rescued from the Moyka River in St. Petersburg. He had a backpack with human remains on him. More human body fragments were later 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 preliminarily identified as Anastasia Yeshchenko, a postgraduate student who had been Sokolov’s co-author in joint studies and could have had sexual 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. The official identification procedure has not yet been carried out.
According to earlier reports, Sokolov fired four shots from a sawed-off small-caliber rifle at the young woman on November 7. In the court, the suspect confessed to the murder on grounds of personal conflict. He said Yeshchenko had been antagonistic to his two minor children of his first marriage.
On November 11, St. Petersburg’s Oktyabrsky district court ruled to place the man in custody.