GORNO-ALTAISK, September 6 (Itar-Tass) - The Prosecutor's Office of the Altai republic has exposed the murderer of journalist from Omsk Alexander Petrov and his family, First Deputy Prosecutor of the republic Sergei Shukhin told Itar-Tass on Wednesday. The murder was committed in early August.
According to the official, “The suspect surrendered the murder weapon, although he had initially claimed that he threw the gun into the Katun River.” At present “the preservation of evidence by way of investigation is carried out, a ballistic expert examination of the weapon and complex forensic psychiatric expert examination of the suspect have been scheduled,” said the official. The deputy prosecutor noted, “The things that belonged to the killed family and that the suspect gave away to his acquaintances have also been confiscated.”
Officials of the Altai republican Prosecutor’s Office are stunned by the murder’s senselessness and cruelty. Shukhin pointed out that the murder of four people was committed “in order to have a ride in the car and hand round the things of the victims to friends.”
The case will be taken to court no earlier than in two-three months after all the expert examination procedures are over.
The Petrovs family – Alexander and Alyona, as well as their two children, arrived in Altai for a vacation in early August. The bodies of the married couple with gunshot and stab wounds were found on the bank of the Tuekta River 14 kilometres from a settlement of the same name on August 12 and 14. The family probably set up a tent there to spend the night. The bodies of their children were found several days later.
The Mitsubishi car of the family from Omsk was found 140 kilometres from the tragedy site. According to preliminary information, money, a digital photo camera and other valuable things disappeared from the car.
Alexander Petrov, 31, the son of Anatoly Petrov who is Itar-Tass correspondent in the Omsk region graduated from the journalism department of Moscow State University (MGU), worked with the Moskovskiye Novosti (Moscow News) daily as a correspondent and has recently been the editor-in-chief of the Pravo na Vybor (Right to Choice) magazine published by the regional election committee. His wife Alyona was a teacher of the foreign languages department of Omsk State University.
Criminal proceedings have been instituted under the Russian Criminal Code Article envisaging punishment for the murder of two and more persons.
