Prosecutor Checks Social Services After Pasha's Murder

St. Petersburg law enforcement has initiated an inspection of the guardianship and trusteeship authorities in connection with the murder of a child. The deceased boy, named Pasha, who had reached school age, was not enrolled in any educational institution. The city’s social services have so far not responded to numerous journalist inquiries.

On February 3, the St. Petersburg Prosecutor’s Office issued a press release announcing the start of an inspection of social services. The document particularly noted that a «principled» assessment of their work would be given based on the investigation results.

The editorial board of the publication Fontanka also contacted social services with a question about how work with the deceased child’s family was conducted. The press service of the city committee for social policy redirected this request to the administration of the Krasnoselsky district and the subordinate guardianship authorities. Journalists have not yet received information from any of these bodies.

It is known that Pasha did not attend school, although he should have been attending classes given his age. He occasionally worked odd jobs, offering to wash cars for strangers in parking lots for a small fee. He went missing from one of those parking lots.

The accused in the murder, Pyotr Zhilkin, is in a pre-trial detention center. He has fully confessed, stating that he killed the child with a punch while trying to coerce him into sexual acts. After the crime, Zhilkin threw the body into a stream, thoroughly washed his car, destroyed the CCTV footage from his home, and drove to the Pskov region.