A Russian man, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison on murder charges, was released after three years in prison. Thanks to Wagner’s mercenary army recruiting system, he was able to leave prison rejuvenated if he fought in Ukraine for six months. But during his “vacation” he made a new victim: his own mother.

28-year-old Ivan Rossomachin made good use of the recruitment system of the Russian Wagner Group, which also recruits prisoners. The Russian was serving a 14-year prison sentence for a murder in 2019. Instead, he was pardoned after less than three years on the condition that he fight with the Russian army in Ukraine for six months.

When he got a “holiday”, Rossomachin almost immediately struck back. He was reportedly only at home for eight days in his home village near Kirov when one of the neighbors found his mother lifeless. She was badly beaten and suffered several stab wounds. Rossomachin was immediately taken back into custody and allegedly confessed to the murder.

The man made the local news a few days earlier, after he was wandering around drunk with a pitchfork and ax in hand. He yelled, “I’m going to kill everyone!” Local residents told the news channel: “We don’t sleep at night.”

The press office of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin responded that it is “very bad” that the released Rossomachin committed another murder. According to Prigozhin, he is the exception to the rule, because only 0.31 percent of the recruited prisoners would have committed crimes again.

(C)NIEUWSBLAD.BE 2023