The defenders of the historian Oleg Sokolov should be deprived of their lawyer status for “false testimony of persons whom they introduced into the process.” This was announced on Friday, December 25, by the publicist Yevgeny Ponasenkov.
“The wild and at the same time shamefully comical beast Sokolov was sentenced to 12.5 years, but in good conscience he must be sentenced to death. At the same time, Sokolov’s defenders will most likely be deprived of their lawyer status and even go to prison. To do this, my lawyers have already submitted to the UK a detailed documentary statement about false testimony given under oath by the persons whom they introduced into the process, “he said in an interview with Gazeta.ru.
According to the publicist, the charge was initially incorrectly qualified and Sokolov should have been tried under the article “Murder with extreme cruelty.”
Earlier that day, the court sentenced Sokolov to 12.5 years in prison for the murder of graduate student Anastasia Yeshchenko.
The historian himself admitted his guilt and repented of his deed, but claimed that he had committed the crime “in a state of complete insanity.”
Oleg Sokolov, a historian and former associate professor of St. Petersburg State University, was detained on November 9, 2019 after he fell into the Moika River. Parts of the girl’s body and a pistol were found in his backpack. During searches in the historian’s apartment, the remains of a 24-year-old graduate student Anastasia Yeshchenko, who lived with him, were found.
A criminal case was opened, its investigation was completed in March 2020. According to the prosecution, on November 8, the historian killed a graduate student in his apartment by shooting at her from an illegally stored sawn-off shotgun. Sokolov’s corpse was dismembered and thrown into the Moika.
On October 12, Sokolov pleaded guilty to the murder of Yeshchenko. On the same day, he said that a year before the tragedy, Yeshchenko had a lover who was a “black realtor”, and suggested that Anastasia and her lover wanted Yeshchenko and Sokolov’s wedding, so that later they would kill the latter for the sake of an apartment.
The conflict between Sokolov and the Moscow historian Ponasenkov became known in 2018. Ponasenkov accused Sokolov of plagiarism: allegedly the ex-associate professor of St. Petersburg State University borrowed concepts from his monograph “The First Scientific History of the War of 1812”, but did not make any references.
The conflict between scientists has become a pretext for legal proceedings. Ponasenkov filed a lawsuit to protect honor, dignity and business reputation. In the first instance, the court sided with the ex-associate professor of St. Petersburg State University, and the St. Petersburg City Court canceled this decision, partially satisfying the plaintiff’s claims. Opponents reached cassation, which in March this year left the decision of the court of appeal unchanged.