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Russian Convicted of Killing Son for Burning Black Magic Books

A 65-year-old Russian man convicted of having hacked his son to death with an ax because the latter burned his dad's books on "black magic" and the occult has been sentenced to eight years in prison, a regional prosecutor's office said Friday.

A court ruled that Artyom Konnov, a resident of a rural town in the far-eastern Amur region, committed the murder of his sleeping son with "at least two swings of his ax" in June last year, the prosecutor's statement said.

Konnov's lawyer appealed that ruling, saying his client was acting in self-defense against a possible future attack, but an appellate court decided on Thursday that the original ruling was legally binding. Konnov will serve out at least one year of his sentence in a "strict regime" penal colony, the statement said.

See also:

Man Kills Himself With Toothbrush in Police Car

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