Photo: Investigative Committee
A 31-year-old resident of Zabaykalsky Krai and a 44-year-old resident of Krasnoyarsk Krai, convicted of murdering a man with particular brutality, signed contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry and left to fight in the war against Ukraine. They threw their victim into a grave, doused him with fuel, set him on fire, and then buried him. This was reported by the Zabaykalsky prosecutor's office, as noted by People of Baikal.
According to investigators, in the summer of 2023 in Mogocha, a local grave digger decided to kill an acquaintance because of personal hostility. To do this, he and two associates drove the man to a cemetery, threw him into an unused grave, poured gasoline on him, and set him on fire. After that, the participants took turns covering the pit with soil.
The victim died of mechanical asphyxia after his airways were blocked by soil.
People of Baikal note that the criminal case was opened only in the spring of 2025; until then, the murdered man had been listed as missing. After that, the circumstances of his disappearance were established within a week. One of the defendants partially admitted guilt and pointed investigators to the place where the body had been concealed. The other two denied guilt.
Local media wrote that the motive for the killing was an "ordinary quarrel." According to those reports, the killers claimed they had told the victim to "behave properly" and live a healthy lifestyle, but he did not listen.
The court sentenced two of the defendants to 15 and 18 years in a penal colony. The third defendant, who had previously been convicted of a particularly serious violent crime, received 19.5 years in prison.
After the verdict, two of the convicts left for the combat zone in Ukraine, and because of this, criminal proceedings against them were suspended. The third tried to challenge the verdict, insisting he was not involved in the murder, and asked to be acquitted. The court rejected the appeal.