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29 Oct, 2007 06:10

Checkmate for Moscow serial killer

Russia's notorious chessboard killer will learn on Monday what punishment he faces for butchering 48 people and attempting to slaughter three others. Aleksandr Pichushkin, 33, was arrested last year after a murder spree in the densely wooded Bitsevsky Par

The former grocery store porter was branded the 'chessboard killer' because of his plan to kill 64 people, the same number as there are squares on a chessboard.
 
Pichushkin would lure people he'd befriended into drinking sessions that often ended with them being drowned in a sewer or pounded to death with a hammer.  He said he never robbed those he killed, as he was only interested in taking human life.
 
The jury took less than three hours to reach its unanimous decision.
 
Prosecution lawyer Yury Syomin told journalists that Pichushkin “does not deserve leniency” for his crimes. 
 
“The prosecution proposes life imprisonment,” Mr Syomin said.
 
Pichushkin said he felt like God, deciding who would live and who would die.
 
His fate, however, is being decided on earth.
 
The relatives of those he killed say they want justice in this world.

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