Elderly woman’s killer released for second time to fight in Ukraine

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Elderly woman’s ******* released for second time to ****** in Ukraine

A Russian ********* who was released from prison to ****** in the war in Ukraine, only to then ***** an elderly woman, has been released a second time to return to the front, according to relatives of the woman.

“Grandma’s ******* has escaped punishment for his ****** – again – and has gone to ****** in the war,” Anna Pekareva, the granddaughter of Yulia Byuskikh, told the BBC.

In 2022, Ivan Rossomakhin was released from prison, where he was serving a 14-year prison sentence for *******, to join the Wagner mercenary group.

He was later allowed to return home to the district of Vyatskiye Polyany in Russia’s Kirov Region. There, he attacked and ******* 85-year-old Yulia in her own house.

The ******** was one of several committed by ********** who had been released from prisons all over Russia to join the Wagner group.

In April this year, 29-year-old Rossomakhin was found guilty of Yulia’s ***** and ******* and sentenced to 22 years in a high-security prison, later increased to 23 years. The court noted that the ******** “involved extreme brutality”.

But Anna says the prison governor has now notified the family that Rossomakhin was released on 19 August – just one week after the start of his sentence.

“My first reaction was *******. I read the forensic reports and I know what this person did to my grandmother. It’s monstrous that he has been released again,” says Anna, adding: “The fact that this is happening in the 21st Century… there are no words that can describe what’s happening!”

An official document seen by the BBC, signed by the prison governor, states that the inmate was released in connection with a specific Russian law that allows the military to recruit convicts to send to the frontline.

It’s the second time the convicted ********* has been let out of jail in order to ****** in Ukraine.

Shortly after the start of the full-scale invasion, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenary group began recruiting convicts from prisons to ****** in Ukraine. If inmates agreed to sign up, they would receive an official pardon from Russian President Vladimir ******.

Thousands of rapists, murderers and other **********, including Ivan Rossomakhin, were released from incarceration and sent to the frontlines, where many were ******* during brutal assaults on Ukrainian cities such as Bakhmut.

After Prigozhin’s ******* mutiny last year, when thousands of Wagner mercenaries marched on Moscow, enlisting inmates from prisons was taken over by the Russian military. The practice was formalised in an official federal law in March this year, and recruitment now appears to be intensifying.

Under the law, convicted ********** who sign up to ****** have their remaining sentences suspended for the duration of their military service. Some could even receive an official pardon if they win awards, for example for “bravery” on the battlefield.

The Russian Embassy in London did not respond to a request for comment on the practice of releasing dangerous ********** to ****** in Ukraine.

Ukraine has also released some prisoners to ****** at the front, though people convicted of ******* or ******* offences are not eligible. Ukrainian Deputy Justice Minister Olena Vysotska told the AP news agency earlier this year that up to 3,000 prisoners have joined the military.

A grinding offensive by Russian forces in Ukraine’s Donbas region this year has depleted Moscow’s reserves. The *** Ministry of Defence has estimated that during two months of the operation, Russia lost as many as 70,000 men – that’s an average casualty rate of around 1,000 per day.

Regular recruitment drives are being stepped up, too. In the last year, one-off payments for volunteering to ****** have risen steeply. In some cases, men are offered as much as 1.5 million roubles (£12,360) to sign up.

The Kremlin’s willingness to release highly dangerous ********** like Rossomakhin and send them to war indicates that the Russian military desperately needs more recruits.

“It’s obvious there isn’t enough manpower,” Anna says.

“The authorities don’t give a ***** about peaceful civilians if they allow people who have committed serious ******* to be exonerated and let out of prison. It tells us that no-one can feel safe in Russia.”

Anna says Rossomakhin’s release means her family are now in extreme danger: “If he comes back he’ll try and take revenge on us – for our efforts to ensure he got a life sentence.

She says she wants to leave the country, and other family members will go into hiding.

“It’s frightening that he’s not the only one. Even if he doesn’t return, how many more murderers and psychopaths are out there walking around?”

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