Prosecutor demands life term for Belgorod shooter

Russia's prosecutor demanded life imprisonment for "Belgorod shooter" Sergei Pomazun in the course of the parties' arguments on Monday. This was reported by assistant chairman of Belgorod Regional Court Irina Sazonova on Monday. During the debates the prosecution and the defendant’s plea expressed their views on the case of murder of 6 persons that is being reviewed. The prosecution insists that the defendant’s guilt is fully proved. The persons affected – the relatives of victims – also demanded the most severe sentence. Attorney Viktor Yeremeyev, for his part, asked the judge to take into consideration that Pomazun has partially admitted his guilt when taking a decision. The attorney also claimed that the defendant is not sane mentally. He doesn’t show repentance as he doesn’t fully acknowledge his guilt, the attorney believes. Therefore, he asked the court not to pronounce a life sentence to the “Belgorod shooter”. At around 11:00, on April 22, Pomazun opened a safe in his house to retrieve his father's Vepr-308 hunting rifle and at least 144 rounds of ammunition. On the same day, he drove to the hunting equipment shop in Narodny Bulvar /Parkway/ in Belgorod at 14:20, Moscow time, entered it and killed two shop assistants and a visitor. He then stole two self-loading hunting rifles Tigr and more than 250 rounds of ammunition. As he was leaving the shop, Pomazun shot at passers-by, killing a man and an underage girl. Another girl died in hospital later in the day. Pomazun was detained near the Belgorod railway station in the evening of the following day. He stabbed the police officer who was detaining him at least four times. He 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 is facing life imprisonment. The suspect was released from prison in December 2012 after serving a four-year sentence for theft.