'Chessboard killer' stands trial
Thursday, 13 Sep 2007 10:59
The killer says his murders took place in Moscow
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A man accused of being one of Russia's worst serial killers goes on trial in Moscow today.
Alexander Pichushkin, 33, confessed to killing 61 people after being arrested last year.
According to reports, the former shop assistant planned on killing 64 people – the number of squares on a chessboard.
He will be charged with the deaths of 49 of these as prosecutors say they do not have sufficient evidence to lay charges on his other deaths.
Mr Pichushkin allegedly battered his victims to death with a hammer before drowning them in a sewage pit. Many were older homeless men, who he lured to their deaths with promises of free vodka.
He was caught when his last victim, a woman, left his mobile phone number with her boyfriend.
"For me life without murder is like a life for you without food," he was quoted as saying in his televised confession.
Observers say the Bittsa Park Maniac, as he was known, will almost certainly be found guilty once the trial concludes.
But he will not face the death penalty, which was abolished in Russia in 1994. Instead life in jail is the expected sentence.