Russia jails historian for 12.5 years for grisly murder of student lover

A Russian court sentenced a distinguished historian known for re-enacting Napoleonic battle scenes to 12.5 years in jail on Friday after convicting him of the murder of his young student lover, whom he dismembered.

Oleg Sokolov, 64, a former history professor at St Petersburg State University, was found in a river in November last year with a rucksack containing the severed arms of Anastasia Yeshchenko, a 24-year-old postgraduate.

He pleaded guilty to her murder.