A Russian convicted murderer who confessed to killing his girlfriend served less than half of his sentence after he agreed to fight against Ukraine.

A Russian convicted murderer who was sentenced to 11 years in prison after he killed his girlfriend and put her body through a meat grinder has been pardoned after fighting against Ukraine, his mother said.

The mother of Dmitry Zelensky told the Russian media news outlet 59.RU that her son was pardoned after serving less than half of his sentence.

Zelensky, a veteran of the Second Chechen War, confessed to the 2018 murder of his 27-year-old girlfriend, Tatiana Melekhina, in 2019, 59.RU reported.

He admitted to strangling her to death after a quarrel, before disposing of her body in a horrific way to try to cover up his tracks, the media outlet said.

According to 59.RU, Zelensky told investigators during an interrogation that he dismembered her body, processed it in a meat grinder, collected the bones in three bags, and threw them into the river.

    • uint32@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      I would say ~10 years is normal for a murder in Germany and other European countries. I don’t know about current Russia but here the idea is jail time should lead to rehabilitation and a bit of punishment. In the US it is much more focused on punishment.

      • Tedesche@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        1 year ago

        10 years for ending someone else’s life? I’m glad we have longer sentences for that here in the U.S. Don’t get me wrong–I’m all for prison reform and introducing rehabilitative elements to reduce recidivism, but Europeans seem to have more concern for criminals than they do for the victims of crime.

  • InvaderDJ@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    There are so many wild things about that story. Assuming it is all true, he strangled his girlfriend, dismembered her, ran her through a meat grinder and disposed of the bones in three different bags. He got only 11 years. He was pardoned for being part of the Russian Army invading Ukraine. He only served in Ukraine for six months before retiring.

    All that is insane. A murder with an already hilariously light sentence is pardoned by being on the front lines for six months?