ICPO refutes identification of Sysoev's killer

The Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office (ICPO) of the Russian Federation denies the information spread today by certain media that the inquiry has identified the suspect of murdering Orthodox priest Daniel Sysoev; however, the criminal hides abroad.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Orthodox missionary and prior of the St Thomas Church in Moscow priest Daniel Sysoev was shot dead by unidentified person, who was in mask, right in his church in the Kantemirovskaya Street in the evening on November 19, 2009. Sysoev was known for his radical anti-Islam position. In the last three years he converted more than 80 Moslems to Orthodoxy and wrote several theological works, where he addressed Moslems with tough rhetoric.

The fact that the inquiry knows the suspect of killing Sysoev originated from some informed source in Russian power bodies. He noted that the supposed gunman is searched, but did not gave his name, referring to the interests of the inquiry, and added he is probably hiding abroad, as the "NEWSru.com" writes.

"We don't confirm the information that has appeared today in media that the suspect is abroad," Larissa Merkulova, spokesperson of the Moscow's Investigatory Department of the ICPO, told the ITAR-TASS. At the same time, she did not report whether inspectors know the gunman's name.

See earlier reports: "Caucasian militants demand a million from businessman Boiko for information about priest's murderer," "Orthodox clergy of South Ossetia accuse ROC of treachery," "Russian Orthodox Church asks not to overblow scandal around slip of tongue on Karabakh."