Professor who 'beheaded young lover' wants to write a book about it
A university professor accused of beheading his 24-year-old PhD student and lover said he wants to write a book about her alleged murder.
Prominent Russian military historian Oleg Sokolov, 63, confessed to stabbing and dismembering Anastasia Yeschenko before disposing of her body parts in a river.
The Napoleon expert, now remanded in custody, said the couple were due to marry next year but he killed her and wrecked his own life “in several seconds” of madness.
“I understand that I committed a horrific thing and deserve the strictest penalty possible,” he said in a confession he penned to Moscow newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda.
He also admitted to trying to take his own life when he was escorted by detectives to his luxury apartment for a crime reenactment.
"They took me there, and I was overwhelmed again,” he said.
“I remembered it all, as if everything repeated.”
Sokolov, who was stopped from taking his own life by a policeman, said he now wants to earn money in prison by writing a book on how he killed the woman he says still loves.
“It will be an autobiography about life and love,” he said.
“I will write about everything I did (in my life) and how I crossed it all out in several seconds.”
‘I do not exist’
He has shocked his jailers by demanding books in his cell, which he shares with an accused sex attacker.
Through his lawyer he denied the widespread theory that he fatally stabbed her while she slept.
“I don't care what is said about me. It doesn't matter,” he said.
“I killed her and myself too. I do not exist.”
The accused said his “cherished memory” of his slain lover is “the most important thing” he has now.
“We were supposed to get married and were planning the wedding,” he said.
“In over five years (dating) I had not raised my hand to her. Even scandals between us were rare.”
The professor faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
Sokolov claims he murdered his lover when he was stressed over a claim of plagiarism against him from another Napoleonic expert Evgeny Ponasenko.
He won this case but lost to Mr Ponasenko in a separate claim that he engaged in personal attacks on his rival, according to reports.
‘Total control’
Earlier he told police that Ms Yeschenko was jealous of him spending time with his children from his previous marriage.
His victim’s mother Galina Yeschenko, a 49-year-old police Lieutenant Colonel, said her daughter was killed after telling Sokolov she wanted to leave him.
“She just got fed up with (his) total control,” she said.
Sokolov said he intends to say sorry in person to Ms Yeschenko’s parents.
“I understand that I cannot change anything with words,” he said. “I want to apologise personally whenever there is a chance.”
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