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GRAPHIC CONTENT: This story contains details that may be disturbing to some readers.
A St. Petersburg court convicted a prominent history teacher on Friday (local time) on charges of murdering and dismembering a female student and sentenced him to 12 and a half years in prison.
The court found Oleg Sokolov, 64, who taught at St. Petersburg State University, guilty of shooting and killing 24-year-old PhD student Anastasia Yeshchenko in her apartment in November 2019.
Sokolov was detained after being pulled out of the Moika River in front of his St. Petersburg apartment with a backpack with two severed arms inside.
The limbs were identified as Yeshchenko’s and investigators found other body parts in the river and in Sokolov’s department in historic St. Petersburg, less than a mile from the Hermitage Museum.
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Dmitri Lovetsky / AP
Oleg Sokolov was known for his books on the Napoleonic era and his enthusiastic participation in re-enactments of historical battles, and his case attracted wide attention in Russia.
During the trial, Sokolov testified that he and Yeshchenko had a romantic relationship and that he shot her during a fight.
Prosecutors have requested a 15-year sentence.
Sokolov was known for his books on the Napoleonic era and his enthusiastic participation in re-enactments of historical battles, and his case attracted wide attention in Russia.
Sokolov, who is fluent in French, was a prominent member of the military re-enactment movements since the early 1990s and represented Napoleon in numerous reenactments of historical battles and other events.
Sokolov’s flamboyant style and fiery delivery made him popular with students, and he spoke about his passion for the Napoleonic era in television interviews.
Napoleon was his idol and his fellow history buffs referred to him as “Sire”, the title of the emperor.
