Russian scholar found disposing chopped body parts of young lover in river, appears in court

A prominent Russian historian appeared in court in St. Petersburg on Monday (local time) in a grisly murder case that has grabbed headlines across the country.

Oleg Sokolov, a 63-year-old professor at St. Petersburg State University, is the suspect in the death of his former student, Anastasia Yeshchenko, was pulled out of Moika River, flowing in the heart of Saint Petersburg, by the authorities on Sunday while he was trying to dispose the latter's pair of arms and a nonlethal handgun in a backpack, CNN reported.

Law enforcement officials told the Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti that Yeshchenko's dismembered body parts were found in Sokolov's apartment. The victim was 24, according to the news agency.

In court on Monday, Sokolov told the judge, "I repent deeply," according to local media news outlet fontanka.ru.

He said he had lived with the victim for five years.

"I considered her a bride and told my friends that I was going to marry her," Sokolov said, according to fontanka.ru.

He then described the court how the two of them had got into an argument over his children.

Sokolov has been sent to Kresty, a pre-trial detention centre, for two months.

Yeshchenko came from the southern Russian city of Krasnodar to study in St. Petersburg and had continued to work with Sokolov as a researcher, according to TASS news agency.

The agency added that law enforcement officials were also looking into media reports that Sokolov usually beat some of his students.

Sokolov is a specialist in the military history of France and a professor at St. Petersburg State University's Department of Modern and Contemporary History.

The historian has often appeared in uniforms of the Napoleonic era and has worked as a consultant on historical reproductions for film and TV.

He was also a member of the French-based Institute of Social Science, Economics and Politics (ISSEP), an academic institution founded by Marion Marechal, the niece of Marine le Pen, France's far-right National Rally party leader.

The institution announced Saturday that it had stripped Sokolov of his position on its scientific committee. The court hearing continues.