Noted Historian Oleg Valeryevich Sokolov has been found guilty for committing a crime! Yulia Maximenko, the Judge of a local court in Saint Petersburg, recently sentenced the historian to “12 years and six months in a strict regime penal colony” on charges of murder, and illegal possession of firearms. While delivering the verdict, the judge mentioned that the Russian historian and Napoleon enthusiast would be having to serve his prison term for murdering and dismembering his young student lover. “He was aware of his actions at the time of the crime,” stated the judge as she read out the verdict. She further said that the reported intent to murder arose suddenly.

In this decade-old case, Sokolov was accused of murdering his 24-year-old girlfriend and student Anastasia Yeshchenko, and then by decapitating her. The Russian Police arrested Sokolov in November 2019 after he was hauled out of the freezing Moika River while drunk. He was also carrying a backpack, containing a woman’s arms. Thereafter, the Police started investigating the incident.

When the court was hearing the final arguments pertaining to the case in the third week of December, prosecutors requested a 15-year-term for Sokolov. Meanwhile, his Pleader Sergei Lukyanov informed the media that the defence “does not agree” with the sentence, and would decide whether to appeal after receiving a copy of the verdict.

It may be noted that 63-year-old Sokolov had received Legion d’Honneur, France’s highest Order of Merit (both Military and Civil), in 2003 for his studies on Napoleon.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das