'Free Pussy Riot' scrawled in blood
01:01 - Source: RT

Story highlights

He wrote the slogan, stole victims' property to throw off investigation, authorities said

Authorities found the mother and daughter dead in their apartment this week

The 38-year-old suspect is a professor at a university in the city where the victims lived

He knew the younger victim, according to state media; he confessed, investigators say

Moscow CNN  — 

Police in Russia are investigating the murder of two women found under a slogan backing the female punk rock band Pussy Riot, apparently written in the victims’ blood, officials said Thursday.

Authorities found the mother and daughter – ages 76 and 38 – in their apartment Wednesday. The slogan “Free Pussy Riot” was scrawled in English on the wall above their bodies, according to local investigators.

The suspect, 38, was a friend of the younger victim and has confessed to the killings, investigators said in a statement on their website.

He is a professor at a university in Kazan, the Russian city where the killings occurred, it said.

Investigators said the suspect stabbed the younger victim after a disagreement over a planned trip between the two, and killed her mother when she rushed into the room to help. The killings occurred on August 22.

He wrote the slogan, and stole the victims’ money and cell phones, to make it appear that someone else committed the crime, authorities said.

The two women, who shared a home, are thought to have died of numerous stab wounds between August 24 and 26 in the city of Kazan, the Tatarstan investigative committee said.

An investigation has been launched to uncover the circumstances of the crime, as well as those responsible and their motive, the statement said.

The murder inquiry comes two weeks after a court in Moscow sentenced three members of Pussy Riot to two years’ imprisonment, a conviction and verdict that prompted international condemnation.

The three women were found guilty of hooliganism for performing a song critical of President Vladimir Putin in one of the Russian Orthodox Church’s most important cathedrals.

Representatives of the jailed band members rejected the supposed link between Pussy Riot and the double murder in Kazan.

Another lawyer for the band members, Nikolay Polozov, posted on Twitter: “It’s weird that the media mention ‘supporters of Pussy Riot’ while commenting on the murder in Kazan. Dear journalists, please wait for official statements from Investigative committee.”

“What happened in Kazan is terrible. Pussy Riot always supported peaceful protest,” he added.

Two other members of the band fled Russia this week “because of the danger,” according to the husband of one of the three sent to prison.

Public opinion in Russia is divided on the band, which specializes in provocative performances aimed at making political statements.

Kazan, in western Russia, is one of the country’s larger cities, with more than a million inhabitants.

CNN’s Laura Smith-Spark contributed to this report.