Former world champion weightlifter tortured to death by Ural teens

MOSCOW. February 18. KAZINFORM Police in Russia's Urals have detained two teenagers on suspicion of torturing to death a 52-year-old former world champion weightlifter, media reports said. Kazinform refers to RIA Novosti.

photo: QAZINFORM

The teens, identified only as Artem K, 18, and Nikolai B, 19, broke into the apartment of retired weightlifter Nikolai Gruzdyev in the Sverdlovsk district town of Beryozovsky while he was sleeping and discovered a lump of meat, some pickled cucumbers and a watch.

Investigators say that they were about to leave the apartment with their meager haul when they decided instead to wake Gruzdyev up and force him to reveal the whereabouts of his savings, first binding his hands and feet to the bed.

But when the former world, European and Soviet champion refused to comply, they hit him several times around the head with a piece of wood, killing him.

The teens were detained by police a short distance from the scene of the crime, changing out of their blood-splattered clothes. Kazinform cites RIA Novosti. See www.en.rian.ru for full version