On 21 April, at the SPbGASU Faculty of Forensics and Law in Construction and Transport, another “crime” was solved as part of the “Twenty-first century Themis” Olympiad.

This year, the Olympiad "Themis of the 21st Century" became an inter-university event for the first time and was held in the format of a quiz. Five teams participated in the quiz: "Conclusions don't burn" (SPbGASU), "Gatchina gendarmes" (Gatchina State University), "Investigative committee" (St Petersburg Academy of the Investigative Committee), "Expert element" (St Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia), "Evidence" (second name - "Expert Five", St Petersburg University of the State Fire Service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia).

The "Gatchina gendarmes" were accompanied by fans who actively supported the guys throughout the event.

"Today we are holding a knowledge festival, where you will be able to demonstrate your creative potential, ability to make unconventional decisions, team spirit and all those positive qualities that are not always possible to demonstrate during the educational process. I hope we will see a fair and beautiful game. May the strongest win!" - Dmitry Ivanov, Dean of the Faculty of FLinCT, encouraged the participants of the quiz.

Having exchanged traditional greetings, the teams began investigating the murder of an antique dealer and the mysterious disappearance of a 13th-century Byzantine icon. The students examined the crime scene, conducted a trace examination, questioned witnesses and built their own version of events. The quiz resulted in the announcement of a verdict for the criminal, who fully acknowledged his guilt and repented.

The announcement of the verdict allowed the teams to understand the correctness of the version put forward and, accordingly, the correctness of the completion of the final task.

For each task, the jury awarded points to the teams. The jury included Associate Professor at the Department of Forensics, Academic Secretary of the SPbGASU Faculty of Forensics and Law in Construction and Transport Elena Kuzbagarova, Associate Professor at the Department of Criminal Law Disciplines of Gatchina State University Albina Bachieva, Lecturer at the Forensic Science and Research Department of the St Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia Nadezhda Gorbunova, Senior Lecturer at the Forensic Science and Engineering and Technical Expertise Department of the St Petersburg University of the State Fire Service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia Oleg Abrazumov, Associate Professor at the SPbGASU Department of Forensics Aleksey Kopanev.

Based on the results of completing the tasks, the gap between the teams was minimal: they were separated by two or three points, which indicates good preparation and the active role of the supervisors.

The places were distributed as follows:

• fifth place – “Evidence”;
• fourth place – “Gatchina gendarmes”;
• third place – “Conclusions don’t burn”;
• second place – “Expert element”;
• first place – “Investigative committee”.

The organizers awarded valuable gifts to the participants of the quiz and those who were involved in it as actors - students of the SPbGASU Faculty of Forensics and Law in Construction and Transport Ekaterina Ryzhikova, Igor Stepanov, Maksim Semenov and Daria Kulabukhova.

Students shared their opinions on what helped them solve the complex case and what the difficulties were.

"Practical experience helped us. We had already been in practice, and felt more confident during interrogation. Theoretical knowledge, a good atmosphere at the event, and the team also helped - this is also important. We clearly understood who to assign what to, quickly distributed who does what," said “Investigative committee” team member Yuri Churintsev.

"The main difficulty was that there was too little time to complete the tasks. But we will try to win next time," promised the captain of the "Conclusions don't burn" team, Ulyana Nasonova.

The team leaders also expressed their gratitude for the invitation to participate in the Olympiad and the good organization. In particular, Albina Bachieva said: "Many thanks to the university for this wonderful day. We really liked the teams, each had its own spirit."

"We took an honorable fifth place. However, I think that next year we will participate in the Olympiad at the St Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the same composition and win a prize. Many thanks to the organizers of the quiz: everything went very well, at a high level of organization. You created a holiday for us and our cadets," Oleg Abrazumov noted.

"Interesting format of the event, great teams, good preparation. I hope that in the future you will come to our events and invite us again," said Nadezhda Gorbunova.

Summing up the results, the jury chair Elena Kuzbagarova reported that the Olympiad became a kind of testing ground, allowing to identify the strengths of the participants and determine the directions for further development of science and practice: “Today's Olympiad demonstrated a high level of training of our students, demonstrated the best examples of a creative approach to solving complex professional problems. For students, participation in the Olympiad is an opportunity not only to test their knowledge in criminology, forensic examination, traceology, criminal procedure, but also to meet colleagues from other universities, expand their professional horizons, better prepare for future professional activity, increase self-esteem and self-confidence, establish useful professional connections. I wish the participants success in their studies and future professional activity, new achievements and interesting discoveries. Let the knowledge gained become a solid foundation for your career and a guarantee of a successful future!”