In Primorsky Krai, a former Wagner Group member was sentenced to 7 years in prison for killing a man who criticized the war in Ukraine. The court regarded the murderer's military awards and 'the victim's unlawful behavior' as extenuating circumstances, as indicated on its website.
The Dalnerechensk court announced the sentence for a former Wagner Group member accused of murder. The convict was drinking with an acquaintance who expressed negative views on the war in Ukraine. In response, the murderer struck him with a stool and a baseball bat and then finished him off with a knife. Subsequently, he hid the corpse in the courtyard of the house.
The victim’s relatives shared that he was a calm man who never fought, had a higher education, and worked as a sailor.
During the court hearings, the defendant claimed that he would have treated his acquaintance the same way even if he had been sober. A committee of forensic psychiatrists concluded that he suffered from a mild form of intellectual disability. The court, considering the murderer's military awards and 'the victim's unlawful behavior,' sentenced him to 7 years in prison.
According to local media, in 2022, the man was convicted for another murder in Primorye, but in January 2023, he was pardoned by Putin.
Russia has already witnessed several cases of pardoned Wagner Group members facing new criminal charges. A mercenary from Volgograd Oblast was arrested for raping two 16-year old girls. A former military man from the same region will stand trial for threatening the judge who had previously sentenced him to an imprisonment for murder.
