The First Western District Military Court sentenced private Andrei Matveev, who left a military unit and participated in the murder of a friend's wife's lover, to 20 years in a maximum security colony. The press secretary of the St. Petersburg courts, Daria Lebedeva, reported this on her telegram channel.
Matveev left the military unit at the beginning of September 2023. On September 16, he and his friend Sergei Sashkov went to the village of Ermolino, Leningrad Region, to obtain consent for a divorce from the latter’s wife. At that moment, as Lebedeva writes, both were drunk.
Entering the house, Matveev saw a sleeping man, with whom Sashkov’s wife was “in a close relationship.” The private punched him at least twice in the chest and then slammed his head against a brick wall two more times.
The beating continued on the street. Sashkov and Matveev dragged the latter’s wife’s lover out of the house and beat him with their fists on the body and head. After that, they stuffed the victim into a metal barrel, pulled the man out, and Matveev began beating him with the handle of a shovel. Then the private handed the handle to Sashkov, and he also hit his wife’s lover with it at least four times.
Having temporarily stopped the beating, the accused went into the house where they drank alcohol with other people. Realizing that the victim was showing signs of life, Matveev and Sashkov threw the beaten man into a hole with groundwater, from where he was able to get out, but soon died. Seeing the lifeless body, the accused threw it into the pit again.
Another man tried to intercede for Sashkov’s wife’s lover, but he was hit on the head with a wooden stool and also thrown into a pit. The victim was able to get out of there and leave; his health was seriously harmed. To hide traces of the crime, as Lebedeva writes, Sashkov and Matveev pulled the corpse out of the pit, brought it into the house and put it in bed. The men doused the floor of the house with gasoline and set it on fire.
The accused admitted their guilt, but noted that they did not remember well the events of that day. Matveev was found guilty in two episodes of unauthorized leaving a place of duty (part 3.1 of article 337 of the Criminal Code), murder with particular cruelty from hooligan motives (points “e”, “g”, “i” of part 2 of article 105 of the Criminal Code), intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm (clause “a” of Part 3 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code) and arson of someone else’s property (Part 2 of Article 167 of the Criminal Code).
The court sentenced Sashkov to 17 years in a maximum security colony in the case of murder with extreme cruelty from hooligan motives, intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm, arson of someone else's property and threat of murder (Part 1 of Article 119 of the Criminal Code).
In addition, almost 875 thousand rubles were recovered from both men as compensation for material damage to the owner of the burned house, as well as 500 thousand rubles each in compensation for moral damage. Matveev must additionally pay a fine of 18 thousand rubles.