Two champions of Moldova commit double murder

Two armwrestling champions of Moldova are suspected of killing a woman and her son in Chisinau's Rascani district. They face 12 to 20 years behind bars or life imprisonment. The police say the suspects robbed the victims of belongings to the value of US$1,000, Info-Prim Neo reports. In a news conference on August 19, Anatol Ivanov, deputy head of the General Police Commissariat's investigations division, said the suspects are aged 23 and 25. One of them is native of Ukraine, while the second is Moldovan. Both of them live in Moldova. According to Ivanov, the killed woman was 64, while her son was 31. They sold technical equipment that they stored in the woman's apartment. The suspects got acquainted with the victims over the Internet and agreed with them to buy equipment from them. Deputy police commissioner of Chisinau Alexei Lazas said that before meeting the victims, the suspects planned how to kill them, taking a knife and a guitar string with them. They stabbed the man and then strangled him. Afterward, they strangled the woman so as not to leave witnesses. The suspects admitted their guilt, saying they killed the victims in order to rob them. They did not have a criminal record. Eighteen cases of murder were reported in Moldova in the first half of this year, as against 29 in the corresponding period last year. 15% of the murders were committed in Chisinau.