‘Mad genius’ graverobber who dug up 29 girls’ corpses so he could mummify them and turn them into ‘dolls’ is denied freedom from Russian psychiatric clinic to get married
- WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
- Anatoly Moskvin, 55, has been denied his bid to be freed from a psychiatric clinic
- His lawyers said Moskvin wanted to move to Moscow and marry his girlfriend
- Was arrested a decade ago after digging up corpses of 26 girls aged three to 12
- Judge ruled he was mentally unfit to stand trial and was sent to the clinic instead
A Russian graverobber who kept a house of horrors with 26 bodies of dead little girls that he had mummified has been denied a bid for freedom so that he could get married.
Historian Anatoly Moskvin, 55, from the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, was arrested a decade ago after it emerged he had dug up corpses of girls aged between three and 12.
However, instead of being prosecuted, he was ruled mentally unfit to stand trial and sent to a psychiatric clinic.
But lawyers for Moskvin say that after nine years of treatment, he is now well enough to become an outpatient, and that he wanted to move to Moscow and get married.
Historian Anatoly Moskvin, 55, (pictured) has been denied in his bid to be freed from a psychiatric clinic in Russia to marry his girlfriend
He was arrested a decade ago after it emerged he had dug up corpses of girls aged between three and 12 in order to mummify them
They say he also planned to write a book and get a job as a language teacher – taking advantage of the fact that he speaks 13 languages.
Before his arrest, it was revealed that he had never had a girlfriend and was a virgin, but after his arrest, he apparently struck up a friendship with a languages student.
However, the Leninsky District Court heard that the friendship could not move to marriage until he was made an outpatient.
Investigators who were alerted to his horrific collection of bodies of dead little girls that he had dressed up like dolls and positioned around his home were tipped off after his parents made a visit when they were returning from a holiday and spotted the mummies.
He was described as a ‘mad genius’ during court proceedings, where it was decided that he was unfit to stand trial based on a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, and he was sent to a psychiatric clinic instead, in May 2012.
The macabre collection included detailed notes on each of the tiny bodies, and he had also done online research on the bizarre subject of making mummified dolls out of human remains.
Investigators were alerted to his horrific collection of bodies, which he had dressed up like dolls and positioned around his home, after Moskvin’s parents made a visit
Though 26 bodies were found in his home at the time of his arrest, it is believed he had dug up an astonishing 150 graves before he was finally apprehended
He had claimed that his fascination with dead bodies dated back to an incident when he was a child where he had been forced by an adult to kiss the head of a dead 11-year-old girl in a coffin at her funeral.
Though 26 bodies were found in his home at the time of his arrest, it is believed he had dug up an astonishing 150 graves before he was finally apprehended.
Before his arrest, he had been well-known in academic circles for his knowledge of Celtic history, with a special focus on burial rights, as well as his language skills.