ST. PETERSBURG, July 16. /TASS/. The St. Petersburg City Court announced verdict in the case of murder of Nina Matsina, a 93-year-old employee of the Mariinsky Theater, on Tuesday. The joint press service of the Investigative Committee’s Main Investigative Directorate for St. Petersburg told journalists that the defendant, nurse Galina Guseinova was sentenced to 15 years in a general penal colony, and the second perpetrator under the case — Razmik Akobyan — was sentenced to seven years in a maximum-security penal colony.

"The court ruled to impose 15 years of imprisonment in a general penal colony for Guseinova, and seven years in a high-security penal colony for Akobyan," the press service said.

The third perpetrator under the case — Senik Naroyan — died in early July immediately after the jury of the St. Petersburg City Court found the suspects guilty and not deserving leniency. The court ruled to stop the criminal case against him due to the death.

The Investigative Committee’s Main Investigative Directorate for St. Petersburg told TASS that the investigation into the criminal case was complicated by the fact that the main witness, Guseinova, who was later held responsible as the crime’s organizer, had tried to misinform the investigators. An obvious conflict in her testimony was found, and its study showed that immediately after the murder she met with the accomplices in a shopping mall in Frunzensky district of St. Petersburg. The footage obtained by outdoor cameras and telephone conversations of the offenders made it possible to reconstruct the crime scene.

The criminal case

The body of the oldest employee of the Mariinsky Theater was found on November 21, 2017, in a flat on Varshavskaya Street. Law enforcement officers detained two Armenian citizens — Razmik Akobyan and Senik Naroyan — and a worker of a public charity organization, Galina Guseinova, who was the nurse of the assassinated. They were charged under Section 162 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Mugging") and Part 2 Section 105 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Murder"). On July 3, 2019, the St. Petersburg City Court’s jury passed a verdict on the three perpetrators under the murder case.

According to the case materials, Guseinova provided services to Matsina as a visiting nurse and knew she had money and valuable property. The investigators say that Guseinova got into Matsina’s flat under a deceitful pretext, letting Naroyan in, while Akobyan was monitoring the situation.

The wrong-doers beat Matsina, stole her bank card, a framed photo with an autograph and at least 130,000 rubles ($2,000). After that Matsina was choked to death. The Mariinsky Theater’s press service stated that Matsina worked in the theater’s library.