Peskov commented on the pardon of a man sentenced to 17 years for the murder of a student member of the SVO

Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov commented on the situation with Vladislav Kanyus, who killed his ex-girlfriend Vera Pekhteleva in 2020 and was sentenced for this to 17 years of maximum security and later pardoned. Mr. Peskov, in response to Kommersant FM’s question about him, said that those convicted of serious crimes in the Northern Military District “atone for their guilt with blood, in the assault brigades.”

Dmitry Peskov clarified that there are two ways for pardon. The first is through an admission of guilt, decisions at the level of the Federal Penitentiary Service, region, federal district, central commission and president. The second way is when the convicted “atone with blood for crimes on the battlefield, in assault brigades, under bullets, under shells.”

The mother of the murdered woman reported in June that the man went to the zone of a special military operation; on November 8, human rights activist Alena Popova (recognized as a foreign agent) published message from the Rostov region prosecutor’s office about the pardon of Vladislav Kanyus.

Vladislav Kanyus inflicted 56 wounds on 23-year-old Vera Pekhteleva and then strangled her with an iron cord. He killed the girl for three and a half hours. The neighbors called the police because of her screams, but no one came to the call.

At first, Vladislav Kanyus was charged only with murder, but due to public outcry, a petition demanding that the case be reclassified as “murder committed with extreme cruelty” was signed on change.org by more than 113.9 thousand signatures. After this, the case was reclassified, and Vladislav Kanyus received 17 years in prison in July 2022. The police officers who did not respond to the neighbors’ call received suspended sentences.

Read more about the case in the Kommersant article. “The police were in no hurry to kill”.

Anastasia Larina