'Chessboard killer' defiant to the end

Aleksandr Pichushkin, also known as the `Chessboard killer,` has made his last statement in court. The final sentence will be handed down by the judge on October 29.

He spoke for about ten minutes. His words were really chilling for both the relatives of the victims and the press present.

“Yesterday an old fool – the senior juryman – spoke here. He read out the list of crimes ascribed to me. For instance, I was accused of getting victims drunk or else killing elderly people…but remember Mr Konovaltsev was 23 years old, and I didn’t need to get Ms Kulygina drunk. So what are you talking about?

But what the hell! The jurymen have no idea what happened there in the forest. They weren’t there. I never chose pensioners as my victims. I chose only those I knew, no matter what their age was.

I agree I killed mercilessly. But I didn’t try to cause pain and suffering. I had my own style. I know that good and evil are very subjective notions, as well as the notions of “pain” and “not pain”.

I also want to note that I’ve been detained for 500 days. A lot of people – cops, lawyers, prosecutors, jurymen, judges – have been pondering my fate recently.

I never committed subconscious actions. I decided myself on the fate of 60 people at the proper time.

I was an executioner.

It was me who decided who'd live and who'd die.

I was almost a God!

I carried out all your functions alone.

I didn’t break the law, I just put it aside… I could justify every single murder but it would take a lot of time. I did everything alone. But there needs to be many of you to handle me.

Everything  I said at the hearing has been true. My evidence given here has been even more precise.

Why didn’t I rob the victims? I don’t need such junk even if it's worth money. What I was really interested in was the human life. It is beyond price. If you are deprived of life, you don’t need anything. So I took the most valuable thing. I don’t like vanity, and I've no time for trifles,” Mr Pichushkinstated.

On Wednesday a Moscow jury found Aleksand  Pichushkin guilty of killing 48 people and attempting to murder three others.

The prosecutors are calling for a life sentence and mandatory psychiatric treatment for the serial killer. 

Pichushkin was arrested in June 2006. He said he wanted to murder 64 to fill all the squares on a chess-board.