The Irkutsk Region Office of the Investigative Committee has pressed final charges against Mikhail Popkov. He is accused of 60 counts of crimes under items “f” and “h” of Article 102 of the RSFSR Penal Code, Part 2, items “a” and “j” of the RF Penal Code, Part 3 of Article 30, Part 2, item “j” of Article 105 of the RF Penal Code.
According to investigators, in 20 years Popkov committed at least 84 murders in Irkutsk Region (the city of Irkutsk and Irkutsk District, the town of Angarsk and Angarsk District, the town of Usolye-Sibirsjoye and Usolye District). He killed women of different social positions aged between 16 and 40.
In January 2015, the Irkutsk Region Court sentenced Popkov to life in prison for 22 murders and 2 attempted murders.
At the same time, investigators kept on looking into his crimes and managed to solve 60 more of them.
As part of the inquiry the investigators carefully analyzed similar crimes committed earlier studying more than 350 cases and check materials. Out of those crimes they picked the ones that were committed in Popkov’s manner and then worked out tactics of working with the accused during which he eventually confessed. The investigators found out the true motive behind the crimes committed by Popkov and the contributing factors in forming his personality of a serial maniac who had acted in the region for more than 20 years.
Committed work of the investigators trying to solve series of crimes committed by the Angarsk maniac helped them to gather compelling evidence against Popkov. They found witnesses of his crimes, discovered and confiscated the murder weapons (axes, screwdrivers, knives) and victims’ personal belongings. More than 900 witnesses were questioned, more than 100 on-site checks of statements were run, 20 bodies of the victims were exhumed and more than 200 forensic inquiries were run.
The investigators conducted some additional examinations of crime scenes, including those in remote areas – woods, waterways and swamps using heavy equipment, excavators and tractors, and involving divers and other specialists.
During those examinations, the investigators found graves of victims buried 15-20 years ago, remains of victims, their personal belongings, murder weapons, as well as objects indicated by Popkov in his statements.
Circumstances surrounding Popkov’s crimes, ways and motives of the murders, the kind of the murder weapons, the number of nature of physical harm inflicted, Popkov’s behavior before, during and after the crimes raised doubts of his mental health, so he was evaluated on several occasions, including by the Serbsky State Scientific Center for Social and Forensic Psychiatry of the Healthcare Ministry. According to conclusions made by experts Popkov did not suffer and is not suffering from any chronic or temporary mental disorder, dementia or any other mental state. Neither was he suffering from any state during his crimes which could have prevented him from appreciating his actions. At the moment of the evaluation he was able to appreciate his actions as well. A sexology expert found that Popkov showed signs of homicidomania with sadistic elements.
The case against Popkov is comprised of 300 files.
The accused and his lawyer are going to start reading the criminal records. Once they have been finished the case will be referred to court.
PDF version 
DOC version
