Belgorod shooter sentenced to life imprisonment

Belgorod shooter Sergei Pomazun is sentenced to life imprisonment for the killing of six people. Judge Nikolai Kudinov pronounced the sentence on Friday, an Itar-Tass correspondent reported from the court. The prosecutor and the victims' relatives had asked for the same. Pomazun is found guilty on all the charges. His guilt is proved by many facts written down in the indictment, the testimony of relatives of the victims and the results of expert examinations, Judge Kudinov said. On Thursday, Sergei Pomazun, accused of killing six people this past spring, asked for a 25-year prison term in his final statement at the trial at the Belgorod region court. "Explaining his request, Pomazun said the shooting in the street had begun not through his fault," Irina Sazonova, an aide to the chairman of the court told Itar-Tass. Pomazun's lawyer Viktor Yeremeyev had asked the court to take into account his client's partial admission of guilt. The lawyer also insisted that Pomazun was sick and asked for a 25-year prison term. Shooting in Belgorod On April 22, Pomazun shot and killed three people in a hunting shot in central Belgorod. Then he stole weapons and ammunition, left the shop and killed three more people, including two schoolgirls. The shooting spree was captured by CCTV cameras. He was detained near the Belgorod railway station in the evening of the following day. He stabbed a police officer several times as he was being detained. Pomazun was charged with murder of two or more persons for hooligan motives, concealing crimes, illegal turnover of weapons, theft of weapons and ammunition, an attempted murder of law-enforcement officer. Pomazun served a four-year sentence for theft and was released from prison in December 2012.