MOSCOW -- It took nearly a week for a Russian court to read the charges in a series of sadistic murders, but when the formal proceedings ended, the man accused of the brutal killings admitted his crimes, according to reports Saturday from the court in Rostov-on-Don.
Andrei Chikatilo, 55, pleaded guilty to charges that he killed 53 people over the past decade. In fact, he confessed to 55 murders.
'Horror novels are nothing compared to what this case has,' the newspaper Izvestia reported from the southwestern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don where the case swent to court.
The murders were characterized by unusually vicious attacks.
The 'maniac,' as Russian media described him, poked out his victims' eyes, cut off limbs, decapitated or disemboweled his victims, and even practiced cannibalism.
His victims included 21 boys from 8 to 16 years old, 14 girls from 9 to 17 years old, and 18 young women. Many were raped.
The murders began in the Rostov region in 1982 -- prompting police to install hidden cameras and initiate a major surveillance campaign -- but the crimes spread across a wide stretch of the Soviet Union until Chikatilo was finally caught in November 1990.
The gruesome crimes triggered a massive manhunt involving 550 policemen who checked on thousands of possible suspects.
Police detained Chikatilo twice, but later released him, the Russian state news agency Itar-Tass said. Another man was detained, charged, brought to trial, convicted and even executed for a crime committed by Chikatilo, who continued his murder spree, Itar-Tass said.
When Chikatilo was finally apprehended, he confessed to 20 crimes previously unknown to the police, Izvestia said. But he also denied three crimes he was charged with. Details of the crimes took up 222 volumes in court files.
'I will make this case open. There will be no secrets,' Izvestia quoted the chief judge, L. Akubzhanov, saying when the reading of the charges began last Tuesday. The reading of the charges ended Friday. 'May this case teach us something.'
Families of some of the victims were in court. Some called Chikatilo names. One woman fainted.
Izvestia said Chikatilo, a grandfather and scholar, was judged normal after initial examination by doctors. He was kept in a metal cage in the courtroom.
