Scientist Tsvetkov, accused of murders, may be released after Putin’s words

HRC member Eva Merkacheva told the head of state about the history of the famous biologist

The famous scientist Alexander Tsvetkov, arrested earlier this year on suspicion of a series of murders committed more than 20 years ago, will likely be released from pre-trial detention. As MK learned, the Zamoskvoretsky Court of the capital received a petition to change his preventive measure.

Tsvetkov was arrested in February at Domodedovo airport after returning from a business trip. A prominent scientist, an employee of the Institute of Biology of Inland Waters, was accused of four murders, which, according to investigators, he committed together with his marginal accomplice Alekhine in 2002.

The victims of the criminals were two residents of an apartment on Yaroslavskoe Highway, an elderly resident of an apartment on Andropov Avenue and a pensioner who lived in the near Moscow region (now New Moscow). All crimes either had a mercenary motive or were committed on domestic grounds. Moreover, in the case of the pensioner, the murder was particularly cruel.

At the time of the murders, Tsvetkov was actively engaged in scientific activities and, according to him, on the dates when the crimes occurred, he was on an expedition many kilometers from Moscow. However, the investigation based its arguments on the testimony of Alekhine, who not only confessed to the murders, but also briefly described his accomplice, as well as on the findings of the Artificial Intelligence system. She showed a 55 percent match between Tsvetkov’s appearance and the appearance of an identikit drawn up in 2002.

Many scientists spoke out in Tsvetkov’s defense, but all this time he was in a pre-trial detention center.

Last Monday, at a meeting of members of the Presidential Human Rights Council with Vladimir Putin, human rights activist and MK columnist Eva Merkacheva spoke about the case with Tsvetkov. She asked to instruct the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Investigative Committee to take a closer look at criminal cases where Artificial Intelligence was used to solve them, including the Tsvetkov case. “If there are any failures, we need to analyze them and draw appropriate conclusions,” Vladimir Putin said in response.

Apparently, the analysis will begin in the near future. On Friday, the Zamoskvoretsky court received a petition from the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee for Moscow to change the preventive measure against Tsvetkov from arrest to a ban on certain actions. Most likely, the consideration of the application will take place on Monday, December 11 (Tsvetkov’s arrest was supposed to be extended on December 14). However, the result of the review is still unknown, and even a change in the preventive measure does not at all mean that the investigation recognizes the scientist’s innocence.