TULA. Dec 29 (Interfax) - The Tula Regional Court has sentenced local resident Ivan Ivanchenko to life in prison for killing a family of five - two women and three small children, an Interfax correspondent reported from the courtroom.
Ivanchenko will serve his sentence at a high-security prison.
The prison term starts from the moment of his detention, August 3, 2011.
The court also upheld lawsuits by the aggrieved party and ordered the collection of 9 million rubles in compensation for the moral damage to relatives of the murdered family.
Ivanchenko pleaded not guilty and asked that he be acquitted because the charge was unproven.
The defense declared violations in the inquiry and attempts of pressure on the defendant. The lawyer asked for Ivanchenko's acquittal.
Two women and three boys were found dead in an apartment in Tula on August 1, 2011. Maria Shkarupa, her mother Valentina Bormotova and three children - 5-year-old Dmitry, 6-year-old Kirill and 9-year-old Pyotr - all died of blunt object traumas to the head.
The family's acquaintance, Ivanchenko, was detained on August 3. He had no previous criminal record.
Ivanchenko was kept in a solitary cell at the first Tula detention facility. He had two psychological and psychiatric examinations and was found sane both times.