Man who kept mummified remains of girls detained for at least 6 more months

53-year-old Anatoly Moskvin appeared in court recently, appealing to be released from the psychiatric hospital that he has been committed to since pleading guilty to 44 counts of desecration of graves and dead bodies.

Moskvin was arrested November 2, 2011 and found to have 26 bodies of girls ages 3-12 all of which he had essentially turned into dolls.  By the time of his arrest, some of the bodies had been in his possession for 9 years.

He is said to have not only dressed the girls, but to have also applied make-up to many of them.  Some of the bodies were found to have music boxes placed within their rib cages.  Despite being found with direct evidence of 29 graves being robbed, he was suspected in the desecration of as many as 150 graves.

At the time of his arrest, he resided in the same residence as his parents.  Neither of them claimed knowledge of the bodies, but did know of the "dolls" and believed it was just a hobby their son had.

A psychiatric evaluation resulted in a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, and on May 25, 2012, Moskvin was ruled unfit to stand trial.  He was sent to the psychiatric hospital for "coercive medical measures."

Previously, Moskvin had told bereaved parents that, "You abandoned your girls in the cold- and I brought them home and warmed them up."  According to a Russian article published in 2015, he believed that the girls could be brought back to life wither through scientific means or with the use of black magic.

At the most recent hearing, the court heard that Moskvin wished to be released in part to care for his 77-year-old mother, and to live with a new girlfriend, but also so that he could become an English teacher because of an initiative by Vladimir Putin seeking to increase the study of foreign languages in schools.

Moskvin had previously been employed as a translator for the military intelligence in the Red Army and is said to know thirteen languages.

When asked if he had any remorse or wished to apologize to the parents he replied, "These girls are girls, There are no parents in my view. I don't know any of them."  Then he continued, "Besides, they buried their daughters, an this is where I believe their rights over them finished.  So no, I would not apologize."

From the time of his initial transfer to the hospital until September 2018, psychiatrists had issued statements every six months recommending his continued detention.  Beginning with September 2018, the medical commission felt that progress had been made in his treatment allowing for continued treatment on an out-patient basis. Once again, at the most recent hearing, the recommendation was made to release Moskvin saying that his schizophrenia had been treated.

The judge saw fit to overturn that recommendation and to renew his detention for another six months.

The mother of one of the girls he turned into a doll expressed her desire that he should be locked up for life.  "He is a sick person," she said.  Her daughter, who was murdered in 2002 at the age of 10 has been reburied in an unmarked grave for fear that if Moskvin were to be released again, he would find her.

"I would be happy to know he will spend his life in the hospital," she was quoted as saying by the Mirror. It "will give me a chance to put a gravestone on the plot of my daughter."