Ex-MP Glushchenko's testimony helped identify all persons behind Galina Starovoitova murder - lawyer
ST. PETERSBURG. April 25 (Interfax) - The detailed testimony given by former State Duma member Mikhail Glushchenko as part of an inquiry into the assassination of parliamentarian Galina Starovoitova in 1998 allowed the police to establish the identities of all persons behind this crime, Glushchenko's lawyer Alexander Afanasyev told Interfax on Friday.
"Over the period after November 8 [2013], when Glushchenko was charged with involvement in masterminding Starovoitova's murder, he was interviewed [by investigators] on numerous occasions and gave testimony, including during his interrogation yesterday, April 24. One can say today that thanks to his testimony, the whole circle of persons standing behind the murder of Starovoitova has been established," the lawyer said.
In his testimony, the former MP identified several people whose names had not been mentioned in the case previously and who were not even suspects, he said.
Following his testimony, the charges earlier filed against Glushchenko may be adjusted, the lawyer said.
"The article of the Russian Criminal Code will remain the same, but his role and the roles of other persons may be described differently," Afanasyev said.
Afanasyev said that his client had admitted to his role in the crime, but had not yet concluded an official plea bargain, which is "our goal".
A lawyer for the "Tambov gang" leader Vladimir Barsukov, Sergei Afanasyev, told Interfax earlier that the investigator in charge of the Starovoitova murder case had interviewed his client. The lawyer suggested that this interest might be linked with the possibility of concluding a plea bargain with Glushchenko and his plans to testify against Barsukov in this case.
Galina Starovoitova, a State Duma member and co-chair of the Democratic Russia party, was shot dead in her apartment building in St. Petersburg on November 20, 1998. In June 2005, the St. Petersburg City Court found Yury Kolchin guilty of organizing the killing and sentenced him to twenty years in prison. Vitaly Akishin, the perpetrator of the crime, was sentenced to 23.5 years in prison.
On November 8, 2013, Glushchenko was charged with complicity in masterminding Starovoitova's assassination.