Translated material
The case of Sokolov
The St. Petersburg historian was given 12 years and 6 months of strict regime for the murder of graduate students Anastasia Eshchenko. How one of the most high -profile processes of the year passed
On December 25, the Oktyabrsky District Court of St. Petersburg sentenced the former associate professor of St. Petersburg State University Oleg Sokolov, accused of the murder of a student Anastasia Eshchenko. The investigation and consideration of the case lasted 13 months. Court meetings turned out to be as vowel as possible - most of them were broadcast live, which in the city on the Neva was happening for the first time. "New" tells how one of the most high -profile trials of the outgoing year passed.
After Sokolov was taken out of the Moika River with a backpack on November 9, 2019, in which the severed hands of 24-year-old Yshchenko lay, the historian almost immediately admitted to the murder. True, he said that he did not remember how exactly everything happened. According to Sokolov, he and Eshchenko were familiar for five years, at the university they knew about these relations, which "were saturated with love." As the reason for the incident, the assistant professor called Yoshchenko's jealousy of his children from the past marriage: "A cute beautiful girl turned into a monster from a terrible fairy tale." In the future, the accused has repeatedly changed his position, then pleading guilty, then refusing to answer this question.
The investigation insisted that Sokolov killed Anastasia in cold blood, and then tried to hide the evidence. He dismembered the body and threw it into the water. The body of YSCHENKO was found by the employees of the Ecostroy State Unitary Enterprise, who were engaged in the cleaning of rivers and channels.
The lawyer of Sokolov Alexander Postyuev had no doubt that the assistant professor, “a sane person in life,” did not control himself at the time of the murder. This version was soon refuted at the Moscow Center for Psychiatry and Narcology named after V.P. Serbsky, where the historian was delivered for examination. Experts found that at the time of the murder, the assistant professor was fully aware of his actions.
At the beginning of the process, the lawyer Payev began to demand that the court be made closed. According to him, this would “prevent the already overly formed public indictment to the verdict of the court itself” ( the nickname “Napoleon-Repleacer” was entrenched in the media for Sokolov. - M. D. ). However, the lawyer himself began to go to television programs, in which he not only defended the historian, but also attracted attention to his figure. As a result, in June 2020, Sokolov abandoned the services of Alexander Praev, explaining that threats began to act as a lawyer. The defense of the former associate professor of St. Petersburg State University was handed over to another lawyer - Sergei Lukyanov.
In court, they interrogated the ex -wife of Sokolov (according to some reports, one of four) Anna Kukushkin. The woman described the ex-spray exclusively from the good side. According to her, over 13 years of marriage, Kukushkin did not observe aggression from Sokolov, which could appear physically: the historian is a quick -tempered person, but, except for an increased tone, he did not allow himself to be anything. According to Anna, the former assistant professor also turned well with children.
She also clarified that Sokolov is a “outstanding scientist” completely immersed in history, which is why they divorced: different interests.
As it turned out, in the life of the former assistant professor there was at least one still one girl-student-Ekaterina Przhigodskaya, who in court stated that Sokolov almost killed her when they were together. They met with the historian in 2008. According to the girl, they had a great relationship until Sokolov began to be jealous of her friends, to forbid her to see them. One day, the historian invited her to his home. “Nothing foreshadowed trouble,” said Przhigodskaya. However, Sokolov hit her in the apartment, and she woke up in a chair. According to Catherine, the assistant professor scared her with a hot iron, and the floor around was covered with red cloth - "so that it was easier to clean later." Catherine managed to break out, she wrote a statement to the police, but the case was heated - in this she blames the leadership of St. Petersburg State University.
In July 2020, the court questioned the publicist Yevgeny Ponasenkov, who is considered the main “scientific” opponent of Sokolov. A couple of years ago, a Moscow historian and blogger reproached the associate professor in the plagiarism of his monograph “The First Scientific History of the War of 1812”. In response, he spoke of the secondary work of Ponasenkov’s work and forgery during publication - Sokolov managed to win two vessels on the protection of honor and dignity.
The voltage between the researchers increased. According to Sokolov, Ponasenkov back in 2018 organized an Internet traffic against him and Eshchenko. The assistant professor at the trial announced that it was this conflict that actually brought him to the murder of the girl.
Speaking at the meeting, Evgeny Ponasenkov said that he did not feel hostility towards Sokolov. The publicist claimed that he did not have the time and desire to contact the accused in any way, so he did not organize any persecution and illegal actions in relation to him.
The fact that Sokolov was threatened was confirmed by several more witnesses, including the blogger and translator Dmitry Goblin Puchkov. The latter said that the door of Sokolov in the height of the conflict with Ponasenkov was smeared with blood, and he was also thrown out of dead rats. According to Puchkov, the ill -wishers distributed information about the personal data of the associate professor and his companions, hacked their accounts.
Protection of the assistant professor provided copies of letters with threats to Sokolov from the “Ponasenkov gang”. Unknowns allegedly were going to harm Sokolov if he did not resolve the lawsuit in the case of the story with the plagiarism of scientific work. Also, attackers allegedly threatened to transfer to the media and publish Sokolov’s correspondence with Anastasia Eshchenko on the Internet.
In October 2020, Sokolov finally pleaded guilty to the murder of Yshchenko. Speaking in court, he accused Ponasenkov of bringing to the murder and turned to Yoshchenko's parents with a request to turn his anger at the opponent.
In December, a full version of the investigation was announced in the debate about what happened on the night of November 8, 2019. Sokolov and Yshchenko quarreled because the girl was going to a friend for her birthday. Their conversation was heard by a neighbor through the wall. According to her, the historian did not want to let Anastasia let go for the holiday.
According to the mobile operator, during the conflict, Yshchenko left the house for 40 minutes. She called her brother, said that Sokolov hit her and that this was not the first time. At this time, Sokolov opened a map of the city on the phone - according to investigators, the historian manually drove the names of the nearest rivers. The defense claims that the “cards” is the first thing Sokolov pressed, opening the browser on the phone to just get distracted, looking at the familiar streets.
When Anastasia returned, she called her brother again, saying that she went to bed. After that, the couple quarreled again, for the last time. Sokolov took a sawn -off shotgun and shot Yshchenko in the head. Then he grabbed the girl with his hands by the neck and broke her. At that moment, Eshchenko was still alive - this was confirmed by the forensic expert. The girl continued to show signs of life, Sokolov shot her head three more times. Soon she died.
The investigation claims that
After the murder, the assistant professor did not feel guilty or shame, but immediately began to engage in household chores. The scientist called the gas service about the repair of the column and explained to the master how to drive up to him to replace the details.
Then he went to Ikeua behind a new mattress instead of blood stained with blood. He also tried to cover the traces of the crime. For example, after the murder of Sokolov, he called Anastasia twice and he himself answered calls.
On the day of the tragedy, the historian planned a meeting with friends. He did not cancel it. He laid the corpse of Anastasia under the bed and went to the store to buy food and alcohol. Then acquaintances came home, they drank and talked, while the girl’s body remained in his apartment. Friends did not notice anything strange in Sokolov’s behavior.
Then Sokolov went to a construction store and bought a saw. The expert regarded his actions as unprofessional: "The person did not know where the authorities are." Then, in order to “do not tear your back”, he threw out parts of the body to his beloved from the window of the third floor, and later gathered them and threw them into the sink.
According to protection, the measurement of the graduate student “preceded a long -term traumatic situation”, which led to the “exhaustion of personal resources”. And the shot, which Sokolov made of circumcision made was “subjectively unexpected” for him - such a wording is in the conclusion of the experts of the center named after V.P. Serbsky. The reason for everything that happened is the regular scandals and hostility of the girl to the children of Sokolov, which is confirmed by the decoding of correspondence of lovers, where Anastasia writes more than once - "I hate your geeks." To this was added a psychological trauma against the background of the persecution of the historian Ponasenkov. The video with his insults, according to lawyers, Sokolov revised not after the murder, but a few minutes before him, which had the most powerful influence on the scientist.
The defense insisted that love was between the girl and the scientist. They traveled to France, participated in reconstructions, engaged in international cooperation on the topic of history and wrote joint scientific works. Their correspondence, the decryptions of which were voiced at the trial, confirm this. The couple talked if she did not talk about the children of the scientist, very respectfully, gently and with trepidation. They admitted a lot of love and even turned to each other to "you."
Lawyers claim that Sokolov wanted to hide the crime in order to delay the moment of exposure. He intended to live in the wild for another week to rewrite the will and do other important things, and then commit suicide.
The state prosecutor demanded that the historian impose a punishment - 15 years in a maximum security colony. The court also asked to take into account various aggravating factors and mitigating, including the presence of Sokolov children, elderly parents, the positive characteristics of colleagues and contributions to history and reconstruction in Russia.
Sokolov’s lawyers asked for no more than 8 years of imprisonment. As a mitigating circumstances, the defense asked to take into account the “unlawfulness and abrasion of behavior” by the murdered Anastasia Eshchenko. Justice, said lawyer Sergei Lukyanov, in this matter “will be concluded” in precisely to admit: the actions of Yschenko influenced the fact that Sokolov killed her.
In his last word on December 14, Sokolov again talked about how they and Anastasia Eshchenko loved each other. In 2020, the couple planned a wedding and even managed to announce this to friends and relatives. Sokolov added that he wants to express deep and complete repentance. He emphasized that he wanted to be punished, but for the crimes committed, and not for the fact that he was "blamed for the media, a number of fallen before the sensations of journalists." In conclusion, the scientist asked the parents of Anastasia Eshchenko to forgive him "at least a little bit, at least a drop."
Maria Dolbish - especially for "New"