Killer of war veteran sentenced to long term in prison

LIPETSK. November 26. KAZINFORM Maxim Zaitsev, 30, who beat to death a veteran of the Great Patriotic War Vasily Poltavtsev last February, was sentenced to 11 years in a tough security penitentiary in Lipetsk; Kazinform refers to Itar-Tass.

The convict is also to pay 500,000 roubles of moral damages to the veteran family, a senior assistant chief of the regional investigation department Galina Karlina told Itar-Tass on Friday.

The murder was committed on February 10, 2010. The robber broke into the flat of the veteran and hit the latter on the head several times. After that he stole the military medals of the veteran - two Orders of the Red Star, the Second Degree Order of the Great Patriotic War, 24 anniversary medals and a mobile phone.

Two weeks after the attack Vasily Poltavtsev died of wounds at the hospital.

Several days after the crime the detectives traced down the criminal, who had previous convictions, and detained him. The detectives found out he sold the stolen medals to a smuggler for 6,000 roubles, but the latter learnt about the crime and brought the orders to the police.

To solve the murder of Vasily Poltavtsev became a matter of honour for the Lipetsk law enforcement agencies. The detectives were awarded with the Medals of Valour in the Military Service for the investigation of this brutal crime.