KILLED EX-BOYFRIEND: A photo from the Russian social media Vkontakte of Vera Pekhteleva with her killer, Vladislav Kanjus, who, after serving as a soldier in Ukraine, is now pardoned by President Putin. Photo: From Vkontakte
23-year-old Vera Pekhteleva (23) was raped, tortured and killed. Now President Vladimir Putin has pardoned the killer. And 16 others convicted of murder – because they have fought for Russia in Ukraine.
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In 2020, 23-year-old Vera Pekhteleva was raped, tortured and killed by her ex-boyfriend Vladislav Kanjus, who was sentenced to 17 years in prison. President Putin is now pardoning Kanjus and 16 other convicted murderers because they fought for Russia in Ukraine. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirms that convicted soldiers can be pardoned by serving their crimes on the battlefield. According to investigative journalists in Agentsvo, at least 17 convicted murderers have been pardoned after fighting in Ukraine. Inna Sangadzhieva of the Helsinki Committee believes that the rule of law in Russia is gone, and that the authorities do not protect the citizens. Show more
– People are angry, says Inna Sangadzhieva of the Helsinki Committee.
She has just read about the 17 men who have been convicted of murder, but who went to war – and are therefore pardoned by Putin.
– A cruel case, she says of Vera Pekhteleva, who had recently broken up with her boyfriend, Vladislav Kanjus, when she went to his apartment in the town of Kemevoro on a January day in 2020 to collect her things.
She was raped, stabbed 111 times and strangled to death. The violence must have gone on for hours, according to the report Russian media. Kanjus was sentenced to 17 years in a penal camp with a so-called “harsh regime”.
– What made the case extra special was that neighbors heard screams and repeatedly tried to notify the police, without them coming, says Sangadzhieva.
Vera Pekhteleva was subjected to rape, knife torture and strangulation. Photo: From Vkontakte
The case was so extreme that it received international attention, including from the British The Sun.
– Kanjus has not only been pardoned, he also does not have to pay compensation to her parents, says Inna Sangadzhieva.
It was Vera Pekhteleva’s mother who first discovered photos of the former son-in-law in uniform. It shocked her.
Now the Russian media comes with the news that he has been pardoned. By Vladimir Putin.
PICK UP AND PARDON: Russian President Vladimir Putin needs crew on the battlefield in Ukraine. Men convicted of murder are now brought out of penal camps – and later released after completing their service. Photo: SPUTNIK / Reuters / NTB
The case is causing so much attention that Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked about the case on Friday.
– It is possible to be pardoned by atoning for one’s crime on the battlefield with one’s blood, Peskov replied.
– The convicts, including those convicted of serious crimes, atone for their crimes with blood, in the rain of bullets, the presidential spokesman continued.
Inna Sandgadzhieva of the Helsinki Committee explains:
– The Wagner group brought in soldiers from the penal camps. These were promised a pardon if they survived at the front.
It was the commander of the Wagner soldiers, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who himself went around to the penal camps and recruited soldiers in 2022. Vladimir Putin himself confirmed in June that he would sign such pardons. Everyone who had fought in the “military special operation” deserved “glory and honour”, he explained, according to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
– It is hair-raising that the difference between wrong and right disappears. And where is the state – which should normally protect people? This is a man who has sadistically committed murder and received 17 years in prison. While opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza, by comparison, has received 25 years in prison – for criticizing the authorities. The norms are disappearing, says Sangadzhieva.
Photo: Faksimile fra Agency
Gravejournalistene i Agentsvo has made an overview of convicted murderers who have been pardoned by Putin – and has thus reached 17.
– Some of them have also committed crimes after returning home, writes Agenstvo.
Here are some of the examples they have described:
In 2022, a man in the Perm region, Artyom Butchin, raped and killed 23-year-old Tatjana Rekutina. He received 20 years in prison. In August this year, he went to war and was able to return home in November. In 2021, a drunken man in the Arkhangelsk region, Vyacheslav Samoilov, killed his 33-year-old partner Olga Shlyamina, dismembered her body with a hacksaw, hid fragments of the body on various places and burned her things. He received nine years and seven months in prison, but already in 2023 he was at home, having spent three months at the front. In 2020, Arsen Melkonyan from Volgograd killed real estate agent Roman Grebenyuk. He was sentenced in 2022 to 11 years in prison. About half a year after the sentence, he was able to go home, free. In 2016, Vladislav Korobeinikov and his brother Aleksandr raped and killed 19-year-old Maria Nechetnaya. She was hit in the head with a bat. They received 19 years in prison. Vladislav went to war in October 2022 as part of the Wagner group. Now the contract has expired and he is free.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung tells of a soldier who was sent to a school to talk about the war and be a role model. He appeared in Wagner’s camouflage uniform and was masked in front of the 7th graders in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Later it turned out that the man had been convicted of two murders, one in 2010 and another in 2017. Then came the war.
– This says a lot about how Russia is governed now. It just proves that the rule of law is gone. The state is governed by a group that celebrates the rights of the physically strong. The authorities are no longer able to protect and give their citizens security, Inna Sangadzhieva believes.
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Published: 12.11.23 at 01:51
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2023-11-12 00:51:02
#Raped #tortured #killed #war #pardoned #Putin
