Several Moscow police officers may face criminal charges of negligence over their role in the Chessboard killer case.
Moscow chief Prosecutor Yury Syomin has confirmed an investigation has begun into the handling of the Aleksandr Pichushkin case, who was convicted of 48 murders and given a life sentence this week. Syomin said if policemen had been more effective the maniac would have been stopped earlier. One criminal case has been opened and others could follow. Aleksandr Pichushkin committed the first murder in 1992 but an investigation wasn't started as the body of a victim had not been found. “Pichushkin has not committed any crime for nine years. In 2001 he started a series of murders and killed about 18 people by pushing them into the sewers after getting them drunk but they weren't registered as crimes. In fact in those days they did not think it was the work of a maniac,” Syomin points out.