Decorated St. Petersburg professor and Legion of Honor recipient found in freezing-cold river with severed female arms in backpack
Oleg Sokolov (R), dressed as French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, during a historic reenactment event in 2005. ©REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin CVI/TC
A Napoleonic history professor with tenure at St. Petersburg’s top university is suspected of murdering his much younger ex-student-turned lover in a fit of jealous rage. He was found in a river with female arms in a backpack.
On a bone-chilling Saturday morning, rescuers were called to help a man in his 60s found in the freezing waters of the Moyka River that cuts though the historic center of St. Petersburg. Their next discovery was much more sinister – a backpack with two female arms severed at the elbows and a non-lethal handgun.
The Moyka River © Sputnik / Alexey Danichev
Police detained the man, who had to be taken to the hospital for hypothermia, and launched a murder investigation.
While law enforcement has not officially released the name of the suspect, numerous Russian media outlets have reported he was Oleg Sokolov, a 63-year-old historian teaching at the most prestigious university in St. Petersburg.
When investigators searched the man’s apartment, located not far from the river, they found the dismembered body of a young women and a bloodied hacksaw that was apparently used to cut off her arms and head, local news site 47news.ru reported. It claims the victim is a 24-year-old former student and protégé of Sokolov, who was apparently in a relationship with the man. The two collaborated on several works about the Napoleonic Wars and appeared in period costumes at re-enactment events.
Police outside the suspect's apartment building © Ruptly
Unconfirmed claims indicate he killed his partner in a fit of jealous rage on Thursday, and on Friday night, he tried to dispose of the body first by dismembering it. He was reportedly drunk when he was found in the river, so it is unclear whether he slipped and fell into the river or jumped in on his own after discovering that his backpack wouldn’t sink.
Sokolov is a renowned expert in French history of the Napoleonic age, authoring several papers on the First French Empire and its stand-off with Russia. He is also a military re-enactment enthusiast who helped to popularize the hobby in Russia. His scientific and public work was recognized in France in 2003, when he received the Legion of Honor, the highest national order of merit.
The man’s reputation, however, is not without stain. He reportedly had several flings with his students and has been accused of having a history of domestic violence. None of his alleged victims, however, filed complaints with police, so the accusations were never formally investigated by the police, according to the public record.
Claims that Sokolov has a bad temper were at least partially substantiated last year when footage of one of his lectures caused a minor scandal. The video shows one of the listeners asking him about a claim that he had committed plagiarism. The teacher responded by angrily ordering his supporters to drag the young man out, cheering all the way. Sokolov insisted the incident was a provocation and that his supporters did nothing wrong. The ethics commission of St. Petersburg State University, where he teaches, investigated the incident and declined to discipline him.
UPDATE:
A Russian court on Monday charged a distinguished historian known for re-enacting Napoleonic battle scenes with the murder of his partner after he was found in a river with a backpack containing her severed arms.
Oleg Sokolov, a 63-year-old history professor at St. Petersburg State University, confessed in court on Monday to shooting dead Anastasia Yeshchenko, a 24-year-old postgraduate, with a rifle.
Sokolov told the court he had loved Yeshchenko and that they had been lovers for five years. But they argued over his children from another relationship and he had "lost control," shooting her four times with a sawn-off rifle, he said.
"During the row, we all lost control. I don't understand how it happened. Something like this has never happened to me before. She attacked me with a knife," he was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
"I repent," he said.
UPDATE:
A Russian court on Monday charged a distinguished historian known for re-enacting Napoleonic battle scenes with the murder of his partner after he was found in a river with a backpack containing her severed arms.
Oleg Sokolov, a 63-year-old history professor at St. Petersburg State University, confessed in court on Monday to shooting dead Anastasia Yeshchenko, a 24-year-old postgraduate, with a rifle.
Sokolov told the court he had loved Yeshchenko and that they had been lovers for five years. But they argued over his children from another relationship and he had "lost control," shooting her four times with a sawn-off rifle, he said.
"During the row, we all lost control. I don't understand how it happened. Something like this has never happened to me before. She attacked me with a knife," he was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
"I repent," he said.
Placido Domingo quits Tokyo Olympic event
amid sex abuse claims
By Nicholas Sakelaris(UPI) -- Opera legend Placido Domingo has withdrawn from an event planned for the opening of next summer's Tokyo Olympics amid multiple accusations of sexual misconduct, organizers said Friday.
Opera legend Placido Domingo sings the national anthem before a game between the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Calif., in 2011.
File Photo by Phil McCarten/UPI | License Photo
"This decision was made by Maestro Domingo after thoughtful consideration," the Tokyo organizing committee explained.
The 78-year-old singer faces accusations of sexual misconduct that already prompted him to resign last month from the Los Angeles Opera. He said then his ability to serve as the opera's general director had been compromised. Domingo has also withdrawn from performances at New York City's Metropolitan Opera.
The accusations say Domingo pressured women into granting sexual favors in exchange for professional opportunities. The Madrid-born singer has denied their claims.
The Tokyo Summer Olympic Games begin next July 24 and run through Aug. 9.
Roman Polanski and Bill Cosby kicked out of
the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Roman Polanski ‘child abuse victim’ says Oscars Academy
should have kicked him out decades ago
Emma Parry, The SunA WOMAN who accused Roman Polanski of sexually assaulting her when she 10 says the shamed director should have been kicked out of Hollywood’s movie academy 40 years ago.
Convicted rapist Polanski was expelled from the from the board of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science - which runs the Oscars - along with disgraced comic Bill Cosby on Wednesday.
Marianne Barnard, pictured here aged 10, says she was sexually abused by Roman Polanski shortly before this photo was taken
Marianne Barnard went public with her allegations against Polanski in October last year and has been campaigning for the Academy to revoke his membership ever since.
She told Sun Online that while she was pleased the Academy's board had finally listened - she believed disgraced Polanski should have been removed decades ago - when he pleaded guilty to having unlawful sexual intercourse with then 13-year-old Samantha Geimer in 1977.
Speaking from her home in Santa Barbara, California, she said: “I do feel gratified but it also makes me deeply sad because this should have happened decades ago.
"Why did it take them this long? Why did it take them from October when I came forward? Why didn’t they listen to all these other women when they came forward? Why has this taken over 40 years?
Roman Polanski was convicted of raping 13-year-old Samantha Geimer in 1977 Credit: Getty
“To me the Academy has been complicit for decades. Removing Roman Polanski from the Academy should have happened as soon as pleaded guilty.
“Back in 1977, the Academy board knew Roman Polanski had committed a serious crime yet they didn't step up to the plate and do something about it.
"They not only were silent then, allowed him to remain as a member, the Academy also awarded Polanski an Oscar in 2003 for Best Director. That's unconscionable.
“Having someone like Polanski win an Academy award - it taints it - and it undermines the whole entertainment industry.
“I am hopeful that since Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby and Polanski have now have been expelled from the Academy that anybody else convicted of sexual assault in the future will also be removed.
“Expelling them is a step in the right direction and sends the much needed message that Hollywood won’t tolerate sexual predators or paedophiles any longer."
Speaking publicly for the first time last year, Marianne told Sun Online how she was taken to meet Polanski at a deserted beach in Malibu in 1975 when the alleged abuse took place.
She says that the movie director took pictures of her naked wearing a fur coat before molesting her - in an incident that left her traumatized.
“I had on a bikini and I thought that it was a modelling shoot - I had modelled as a child so this wasn’t out of the ordinary for me,” she explained.
“First he was taking pictures of me in the bikini, then it was with the coat then he said take off the bikini top, which I was comfortable with as I was only 10 and I often ran around with no top on.
Marianne tweeted this street art by LA artists Unsavory Agents to show her disgust at Polanski
still being a member of the Academy back in March. Credit: Twitter
"I don’t know where she went and I didn’t really register her leaving but she was no longer there. Then he molested me.”
Marianne also filed a report with LAPD, who later confirmed they were investigating several accusations against Polanski.
She then launched a petition to get Polanski removed from the Academy which gathered over 20,000 petitions.
Marianne said she was inspired to finally break her silence by Rose McGowan and other women who have spoken out about Harvey Weinstein Credit: AP:Associated Press
On Wednesday the Academy released a statement which stated they had “voted to expel actor Bill Cosby and director Roman Polanski from its membership".
Marianne says she now feels "validated" and hopes the move signals a “new era” in the entertainment industry.
“I hope that this is legitimately a new dawn and a new direction where any Academy member who has been convicted of any kind of sexual crime has their membership revoked and their awards stripped from them.
“I want to thank all the kind, caring people who signed my petition, everyone who called and wrote to the Academy and everyone who supported me, you helped make this happen with your voices - it really was a group effort," she added.
“For me as a survivor and all the other survivors, this is a way of acknowledging what happened to us. I do feel validated. I don’t see this as justice though, which still needs to happen in a court of law. I just hope the Academy stand by this and they are not just doing this for optics.”
Film director Polanski was charged with raping 13-year-old Samantha Geimer back in 1977. The sex fiend gave his young victim alcohol and quaaludes before the attack, which took place at the home of actor Jack Nicholson.
Polanski was charged with five crimes - including rape by use of drugs - but took a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to “unlawful sexual intercourse” in return for prosecutors dropping the five charges.
He then fled to Europe the night before his sentencing after hearing that the judge planned to reject the plea deal and jail him. Polanski has lived in exile ever since - moving between France, Poland and Switzerland - and there is still a warrant out for his arrest in the US.
Since then several women - including Marianne and actresses Charlotte Lewis and Mallory Millett - have accused Polanski of sexual assault.
And so many stars still stand behind him if he offers them a role in his next movie.
U.K. media calls Prince Andrew's sexual
misconduct rebuttal - a PR disaster
In rare interview, British royal denied having sex with
woman who says she was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein
The Associated Press 
UK media is calling Prince Andrew's BBC interview a PR disaster after his claims he doesn’t remember a woman who has accused him of sexually exploiting her in encounters arranged by Jeffrey Epstein. (Sang Tan/The Associated Press)
British media on Sunday slammed Prince Andrew's effort to rebut claims that he had sex with a teenager who says she was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein, branding his televised interview a complete public relations disaster.
In a rare interview with BBC Newsnight that was broadcast late Saturday, Andrew categorically denied having sex with the woman, Virginia Giuffre. But Britain's newspapers and social media commentators criticized him for defending his friendship with Epstein and for failing to show empathy for the convicted sex offender's victims.
Prince Andrew says he has no recollection of meeting Epstein accuser
"I expected a train wreck," said Charlie Proctor, editor of the Royal Central website, which covers the British monarchy. "That was a plane crashing into an oil tanker, causing a tsunami, triggering a nuclear explosion-level bad."
Giuffre has said Epstein forced her to have sex with Andrew in 2001 when she was 17. She says Epstein flew her around the world on private planes to have sex with powerful men, and that she had sexual encounters with Andrew in London, New York and in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Alleged Jeffrey Epstein victim takes issue with Prince Andrew statements
The BBC's Emily Maitlis grilled Andrew on the details of an alleged encounter in March of that year, when Giuffre says she dined with the prince in London, danced with him at the Tramp nightclub, then had sex with him at a house in the tony London neighborhood of Belgravia.
"I can absolutely categorically tell you it never happened," Andrew said. The 59-year-old prince said he had "no recollection" of ever meeting Giuffre, adding that there are "a number of things that are wrong" with her account.
Virginia Giuffre is shown with her lawyer David Boeies before a Federal Court hearing earlier this
year in New York City regarding the criminal case that was launched before Jeffrey Epstein's death.
(Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)
He also suggested that a picture showing him with his arm around the teenage Giuffre may have been faked. There was no immediate comment from Giuffre's representative about the prince's interview.
That's a curious response - 'may have been faked'. One would think he would know without a doubt whether it was faked or not.
Giuffre had recently challenged the British royal to speak out, telling reporters in New York "he knows exactly what he's done."
"And the answer is nothing," Andrew told the BBC.
It's a shame he stopped there, I was hoping he would say, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Moniq...er, ah, Virginia Roberts".
Epstein killed himself in prison last summer, (yup, sure he did) while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges, which he had denied. Years earlier, Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges in Florida of solicitation of prostitution involving a minor. While Andrew defended his friendship with Epstein prior to the Florida case, he said he regretted staying at Epstein's home in Manhattan after the financier's conviction.
I kick myself for, on a daily basis, because it was not something that was becoming of a member of the royal family.
Prince Andrew on his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein post-conviction
Prince Andrew on his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein post-conviction
"I kick myself for, on a daily basis, because it was not something that was becoming of a member of the royal family. And we try and uphold the highest standards and practices and I let the side down, simple as that," he said.
He claimed an alleged encounter with Giuffre in London couldn't have occurred on the date reported because he had taken his daughter Princess Beatrice to a party at a Pizza Express restaurant in the London-adjacent suburb of Woking that day.
Andrew also disputed the details of Giuffre's account, including her statement that he sweated heavily when they danced at the London nightclub. He said that was factually impossible because he had a medical condition at the time that meant he didn't sweat. The prince said the condition stemmed from an "overdose of adrenaline" during his time as a helicopter pilot during the 1982 Falklands War.
Those statements attracted ridicule on social media, with one commenter adding a giant slice of pizza to a photo of the prince and Epstein walking through New York's Central Park. Others shared a photo of the prince sweating profusely.
One Twitter user captured the reaction of many by posting a video of a man pouring gasoline on a fire under the headline "#Prince Andrew."
Accused of having lack of empathy
But it was his failure to show compassion for Epstein's victims that earned Andrew the most scorn.
"Astonished nation watches prince squirm," the Mail on Sunday said in a front-page headline. "Many viewers shocked by 'total lack of empathy.'"
Andrew's decision to grant an interview that went into forensic detail about his well-documented ties to a sex offender was a high-stakes gamble in a country where royals traditionally don't submit to such questioning. When royals speak at all, they usually offer carefully considered comments about charitable works.
Andrew is a true and real gentleman and is stoically steadfast to not only his duty but also his kindness and goodness.
- Sarah Ferguson, Prince Andrew's ex-wife
"I have never seen anything so disastrous. For any students of PR, that is how not to do it," crisis consultant Mark Borkowski told Britain's Press Association. "It was like watching a man in quicksand and, unfortunately, I don't think anyone would have thrown him a line to get him out."
Andrew, who is eighth in line to the throne, did have some defenders.
His ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, said before the BBC interview that it "is so rare to meet people that are able to speak from their hearts with honesty and pure real truth."
"Andrew is a true and real gentleman and is stoically steadfast to not only his duty but also his kindness and goodness," she said.
The prince didn't rule out co-operating with the ongoing U.S. investigation into Epstein's associates, saying he would follow his lawyers' advice. Giuffre's lawyers have said they also want to depose Andrew.
"If push came to shove and the legal advice was to do so, then I would be duty bound to do so," Andrew said.
After that performance, there no possible way his lawyer is going to let him testify.
Felipe Vazquez of the Pirates Faces
21 New Charges in Child Sex Case
Vazquez, who was arrested in September and charged with statutory sexual assault, is now facing counts of child pornography and unlawful sexual contact with a minor
Felipe Vazquez arriving at court in Mt. Pleasant, Pa., in September.
Credit...Michael M. Santiago/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, via Associated Press
GREENSBURG, Pa. — Felipe Vazquez, the suspended Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher, is facing additional charges stemming from an alleged sexual relationship with an underage girl.
Authorities in Westmoreland County filed 21 new charges against Vazquez on Tuesday, including 10 counts of child pornography and 10 counts of unlawful sexual contact with a minor. Vazquez, 28, already was facing charges including statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor and corruption of minors.
Judge Rita Hathaway of the Common Pleas Court denied a request to extradite Vazquez to Florida, where he also faces charges stemming from his relationship with the girl, who moved from Pennsylvania to Florida after the relationship began. Vazquez, who was born in Venezuela, was denied bail by District Judge Charles Moore out of concerns he may be a flight risk. He remains in custody in Westmoreland County Prison. A formal arraignment is scheduled for Jan. 22.
Vazquez was arrested in September. According to a criminal complaint, he told investigators he had attempted to have sex with the girl, then 13, during a meeting at her house in an eastern Pittsburgh suburb in 2017. The police confiscated two electronic devices from Vazquez at the time of his arrest. The criminal complaint outlining the additional charges filed Tuesday said authorities found visual images of a girl in “various stages of nudity” on the devices.
The authorities in Pennsylvania began investigating Vazquez, an All-Star closer, in August after being contacted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The girl’s mother contacted Florida officials after learning of an alleged sexual relationship between Vazquez and the teenager living in Lee County.
Major League Baseball placed Vazquez on administrative leave under its agreement with the players’ association on handling domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse.
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