| ST. PETERSBURG -- A defendant on trial in the 1998 murder
of liberal State Duma Deputy Galina Starovoitova has testified that the
killing was ordered by former Duma Deputy Mikhail Glushchenko, RIA-Novosti
reported.
The whereabouts of Glushchenko, a reputed St. Petersburg crime boss
who served in parliament as a member of the ultranationalist Liberal Democrat
Party, or LDPR, are unknown. He is thought to be living abroad.
Leonid Saikin, a representative of Starovoitova's relatives, said the
defendant told the St. Petersburg court on Wednesday that Glushchenko
had ordered that Starovoitova's telephone be tapped, RIA-Novosti reported.
Saikin did not say which defendant had testified about Glushchenko.
Yury Kolchin, one of the six defendants on trial in the murder, passed
the order to Sergei Musin, who is being sought by police, Saikin said.
Musin is suspected of selecting the attic of a building facing Starovoitova's
apartment block for the sniper to hide, RIA-Novosti said.
One witness in the trial testified Wednesday that he believed Glushchenko
and Starovoitova had had a falling out. "I thought something had
happened between Glushchenko and Starovoitova and they wanted to put pressure
on her," the unidentified witness said, Interfax reported.
Glushchenko, referred to in the media by his nickname Khokhol, a derogatory
name for Ukrainians, is thought to be a leader of the Tambov crime group.
Earlier this year, Ruslan Linkov, Starovoitova's assistant who was injured
in the 1998 shooting, named Glushchenko as one of those who might have
ordered the assassination.
Starovoitova saw Glushchenko just once in 1997, when he attended a meeting
between then-St. Petersburg Governor Vladimir Yakovlev and Duma deputies,
Linkov said.
"Although he was elected, he never showed up at the Duma,"
Linkov said.
Linkov in March suggested that former LDPR Deputy Vyacheslav Shevchenko
was linked to the assassination. Shevchenko's body was found wrapped in
a plastic bag in a villa in Cyprus that month.
Alexei Voronin, a suspect on trial, testified Monday that about $10,000
was spent organizing the murder. He said he believed the money was Kolchin's.
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