Vladimir Belyakov, a defendant in the case of the assassination attempt on Vladimir Solovyov, in court called himself the initiator of the idea to kill the TV presenter. A Mediazona correspondent reports this from the courtroom.
“I came to this conclusion on my own,” Belyakov said.
He explained that he does not remember exactly how, together with another defendant in the case, Andrei Pronsky, he finally decided to kill.
Belyakov also said that he himself was preparing to be the perpetrator of the murder, since he was the best shot of anyone in the group. In court, Belyakov said that he was following Solovyov together with Pronsky. In addition, Belyakov had pistols, which he converted into combat pistols.
Answering the judge’s questions about the role of Artem Deriglazov, whom the investigation called the mastermind of the murder, Belyakov said that he knew him as a “political prisoner in Ukraine.” The defendant added that he does not know whether the Ukrainian asked to kill someone and whether the group members received any money from the SBU.
At the end of April last year, the Investigative Committee reported on the arrest of six members of the National Socialism/White Power group, who, according to investigators, planned the murder of TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov.
The arrested ultra-rightists are charged with illegal sale of weapons, illegal manufacture of weapons by an organized group, illegal acquisition of explosives, illegal manufacture of explosive devices, as well as preparing for murder and participation in the activities of a terrorist organization. The investigation considers 30-year-old Andrei Pronsky to be the leader of the cell; he was charged under 11 criminal articles.