St. Pete university rector killing linked to university's commercial activities - Investigations Committee
MOSCOW. Oct 1 (Interfax) - Investigators are considering the commercial activities of the St. Petersburg Service and Economics University as the main theory of the killing of the university's rector Alexander Viktorov, Investigations Committee official Vladimir Markin told Interfax on Monday.
Investigators are now working to determine the other accomplices in the crime, including the mediators and the masterminds.
According to the investigators, a 38-year old resident of the Kemerovo region and two residents of St. Petersburg are the perpetrators of the crime.
"The investigators have determined that these three suspects, whose names are not being disclosed to secure the interests of the investigation, received an order from a mediator to kill Alexander Viktorov," Markin said.
He also recalled that, after determining the place of their victim's residence, the perpetrators "studied his schedule, usual routes, and carefully planned the crime, which was committed in the city of Vsevolzhsk on September 5."
The press service for the regional department of the Interior Ministry Main Department earlier reported that the St. Petersburg police had detained suspects in the killing of Alexander Viktorov, rector of the St. Petersburg Service and Economics University and former head of the Committee on Science and Higher Schools.
"On Sunday, criminal search officials and Federal Security Service officials conducted an operation to detain people suspected of killing Viktorov in St. Petersburg. Because the suspects were dangerous, the detention involved a special task force," the Interior Ministry Main Department for St. Petersburg said in a press release.
According to the press service, three people have been detained (the assassin, a co-perpetrator, and the mastermind).
According to earlier reports, Viktorov was killed near his house in Vsevolzhsk, Leningrad region, on September 5. The attacker fired five shots at him. Viktorov's wife was wounded in the attack.