Alexander R. arrested in scientist's death

In Yekaterinburg, law enforcement officers have detained a suspect in the beating of Nikita Zezin, a scientist and director of the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution UrFANITs of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The victim later died from his injuries. The suspect has been identified as 38-year-old Alexander R.

According to a source, «Александра и его товарища, которые участвовали в конфликте с Зезиным, сначала вызвали на опрос. Потом их проверили на полиграфе, отпустили всех, кроме Александра. В ближайшее время ему изберут меру пресечения».

Alexander R. has been charged with hooliganism under part 2 of Article 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

In 2011, Alexander worked for the traffic police. He accidentally discharged his service pistol inside a patrol car, hitting a colleague in the groin. A criminal case was opened for causing grievous harm by negligence under Article 118 of the Criminal Code.

His social media status reads: «Каждый получит по делам его, мои дела ещё не окончены!».

Attempts to reach Alexander R. by phone were unsuccessful, as his number was unavailable. A comment has been requested from the Investigative Committee of the Sverdlovsk Region, but no response has been received yet.

The attack on Zezin took place on July 13. The scientist noticed teenagers riding quad bikes on the closed grounds of a center. He called their parents and handed the teenagers over to them. Later, Alexander, the father of one of the boys, confronted Zezin in a parking lot. Nine days later, Zezin died in the hospital.