Two Jesuit priests in Moscow found brutally murdered.

(Oct.30,2008):-Two Jesuit priests in Moscow were found brutally murdered in their apartment
47-year-old Fr. Otto Messmer and 42-year-old Fr.Victor Betancourt were found dead late Oct. 28 in Moscow. The Russian bishops' conference denounced those who committed this terrible crime and prayed Russian authorities would "be able to find the criminals." "The assassin is in a state of serious, horrible sin and whoever committed the crime must undergo a just punishment," the conference said in an Oct. 29 statement sent to Vatican Radio.
In a note distributed to journalists at the Vatican press hall, the head of Vatican Radio and Papal spokesman - Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, said a police investigation was under way. The murders had been carried out "with blunt objects," he wrote. He said authorities suspect Father Betancourt had been killed before Oct. 26 since he had not shown up to celebrate Sunday Mass that day. Father Messmer may have been killed Oct. 27, since he had returned to Moscow from Germany that night, Father Lombardi wrote. Concerned about not having seen or heard from the priests, another Jesuit went to their apartment Oct. 28 where he found them dead, wrote Father Lombardi.
Fr. Adolfo Nicolas, superior general of the Jesuits, called on all Jesuits to pray for their brothers in Russia and for the end to all violence. The funeral Mass was celebrated by Moscow Archbishop Paolo Pezzi the evening of Oct. 29 in Moscow's Immaculate Conception Cathedral. The two priests worked together at Moscow's Church of St. Louis de France.
Father Messmer, a Russian citizen, was born in Kazakhstan. He had been head of the Russian independent region of the Society of Jesus since 2002. Father Betancourt, an Ecuadorean citizen, studied in Argentina, Germany and Rome and had been working in Russia since 2001.