‘Rostov Ripper’ Convicted of 52 Killings

A man dubbed the “Rostov Ripper” after an orgy of killings was found guilty Wednesday of 52 murders in southern Russia.

Andrei Chikatilo, 57, his head shaven and eyes bulging, sat in a special white metal cage in the courtroom as the judge began reading a 330-page verdict.

Judge Leonid Akubzhanov ruled that Chikatilo, who had raped and killed boys, girls and young women and escaped police detection since 1978, was sane. He seemed likely to face the death penalty when sentenced, probably today.

Chikatilo killed 21 boys between ages 8 and 16, 14 girls aged 9 to 17, and 17 women. He buried most in woodlands.

“He tortured his victims while they were alive by biting out their tongues, tearing away their sexual organs and cutting their bellies open,” the judge said.

The emotional scenes that marked the trial earlier in the year when Chikatilo sometimes baited victims’ relatives from his cage--once waving a pornographic magazine through the bars--were repeated in the courtroom.

“I can’t breathe the same air as him! I can’t live on the same Earth with him!” a woman in a black mourning dress, clearly the relative of a victim, screamed from the public gallery. “Execution by firing squad is not enough for him. Let me tear him apart with my own hands!”

She was calmed with the help of a nurse who was busy taking care of many relatives who had to stand, according to court rules, listening to the verdict detailing each murder.

According to a Komsomolskaya Pravda correspondent: “Chikatilo behaves violently in his cage: He mumbles and shouts gibberish, including barely distinguishable demands for a lawyer or an ambulance. He makes a lot of noise trying to pretend he is crazy. He looks terrible, like a very sick man.”

The former teacher, Communist Party member and “perfect husband turned monster” terrorized southern Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. He was arrested in 1990 after a 12-year hunt.

During the pursuit--named “Operation Forest Strip”--police made dramatic mistakes.

They arrested three men on suspicion of committing some of the crimes. One of the three suspects committed suicide, another tried to kill himself and the third was executed for the first of Chikatilo’s murders.