MOSCOW, May 26 (RAPSI) – The St. Petersburg City Court on Tuesday dismissed an appeal against extension of detention of history professor Oleg Sokolov charged with killing his postgraduate student Anastasia Yeshchenko and arms trafficking until September 23, the United press service of St. Petersburg courts reports.

Defense asked to release Sokolov and put him under house arrest because of the coronavirus epidemic. However, the court upheld a lower court’s decision.

The Oktyabrsky District Court of St. Petersburg extended detention of Sokolov in March.

According to investigators, rescuers pulled the 63-year reader out of a local river early on November 9 and hospitalized. Woman’s severed hands and a nonlethal pistol were found in his backpack. Other parts of her body were found in his flat. The man was arrested when left the hospital the next day. He voluntary surrendered.

The victim was identified as Anastasia Yeshchenko, the 24-year postgraduate student of the St. Petersburg State University and Sokolov’s partner.

The professor pleaded guilty. He said that he gunned the woman and broke up her body.

Sokolov is a historian and ideologist of reconstruction of Napoleonic period battles. He has been conferred the Legion of Honor, the French national award instituted by Napoleon Bonaparte.