Russian criminal pardoned. He raped and murdered a 23‑year-old woman

The controversial practice in Russia of pardoning criminals who participate in the war on Ukrainian territory has been a source of outrage. The latest example is a man who raped and murdered a 23-year-old resident of Chusovoy, Russia. Initially sentenced to 20 years in prison, he gained freedom by joining the war front.

This egregious case was reported by the Belarusian portal Nasha Niva. According to the information, the said crime took place in August 2022, against a 23-year-old in Chusovoy, a town in the western Russian region of Perm Krai.

The court passed a judgment in February 2023. The rapist and murderer was served a 20-year sentence, although the prosecutor had sought life imprisonment. Yet, the man spent less than a year behind bars. As a member of Wagner Group, he joined the Russians in their fight against Ukraine.

In October of the same year, he was wounded in battle. Upon recovery, he returned to his hometown and was granted a pardon by President Vladimir Putin due to his "special operation" participation in Russia. Surprisingly, this is not the first instance of such a pardon in Perm Krai. A similar fate befell another murderer, this one of a taxi driver.

The Russian law that grants grace to even the most demoralized units is frequently exploited by local authorities. Brutal criminals, with shocking crimes in their pasts, have shown to have no moral qualms, making them a valuable asset for Putin and his entourage. War has also proven to induce severe instinctual savagery among average ranks of Russian soldiers.

A glance at the crimes committed in Ukraine in recent months reveals deeply demoralized individuals among the Russian invaders. With their superiors' consent, they commit theft, rapes, and murders against civilians.

These are far from isolated incidents. We recently wrote about a 28-year-old Russian soldier who committed atrocities before being eliminated by Ukrainians. The soldier had raped a four-year-old girl and her mother in the Brovary region, near Kyiv.

The perpetrator, Yevgeny Chernoknizhny of the 15th Independent Motorized Rifle Brigade, was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage and is hailed as a hero in Russia.

Criminals, devoid of scruples, even commit atrocities against their own families. In Zavolzhye, Nizhny Novgorod region, a former Wagner Group member burned his sister along with their house. Meanwhile, a previously pardoned Russian in the Volgograd region raped a woman.

The recruitment of these degenerate criminals was managed by the now-defunct Wagner Group, which disbanded after the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin. Regardless, there is little doubt that Russia will continue to take advantage of prisoners seeking to "atone for their crimes" by going to war.