"Prisoner Mercenaries Recruited with Pardon After 6 Months Survival"
Series of Violent Crimes After Pardon... Local Residents in Fear
Reports have emerged that Russian criminals who participated as mercenaries in the war in Ukraine have been released and are returning to their hometowns to commit various crimes. Local residents in the affected areas are living in fear.
Since mid-2022, Russia's Wagner Group has been recruiting prisoners from prisons across Russia as mercenaries to fight in the war against Ukraine, offering a pardon if they survive six months on the battlefield. The Wagner Group is a Russian private military company (PMC) founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who died in August last year.
Despite the Russian government's claim that the pardons are granted "in accordance with strict laws," fear of released criminals is spreading among local residents.
Wagner Group mercenaries are visiting a temporary memorial hall to commemorate Yevgeny Prigozhin on the 40th day of his death last October. [Image source=Yonhap News]
A representative of a Russian human rights organization stated, "Many of the criminals who volunteered as mercenaries for the Wagner Group still had significant prison terms remaining. This means they committed very serious crimes," adding, "If no measures are taken against them, there could be a significant increase in crime."
Meanwhile, on the 29th of last month (local time), foreign media including the UK's Daily Mail reported that former Wagner mercenaries with past records of sexual offenses are committing serious sex crimes and murders after being pardoned.
Nikolai Nechayev (38), from Perm, Russia, who was arrested on the 28th of last month for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, had previously been convicted of the same charge in 2019. While serving his sentence, he volunteered as a Wagner mercenary, completed six months of service, and was pardoned in November last year.
On the 29th of last month, Sergey Shakhmatov (42), a former Wagner mercenary, was sentenced to 17 years in prison for sexually assaulting 10- and 12-year-old girls. It is reported that he committed the crime just one day after being pardoned.
In October last year, a murder occurred in the Krasnoyarsk Krai region. Denis Stepanov (32), a former Wagner mercenary and ex-prisoner, set fire to the house of his girlfriend after she refused to return home with him. The fire resulted in the deaths of his girlfriend and her mother.
In early August last year, Igor Soponov (38), also a former Wagner mercenary and ex-prisoner, was arrested in his hometown of Karelia on charges of killing six villagers and setting fire to two houses.
Meanwhile, The New York Times (NYT) raised suspicions last year that prisoners who participated in the Ukraine war were illegally pardoned. The NYT reported, "After obtaining and analyzing a copy of a prisoner's release certificate, it was revealed that President Putin pushed for an illegal secret pardon order to recruit prisoners as mercenaries."
Experts pointed out, "According to the Russian constitution, only the president can issue pardons, but the Russian government has not issued any pardon orders since 2020," adding, "Issuing secret pardon orders to recruit many prisoners undermines the legal system."
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