A jury found Vitaly Berezhny, a former policeman from Tyumen, guilty of murdering 8-year-old schoolgirl Nastya Muravyova. This was reported by the press service of the Investigative Committee of Russia.
The announcement of the verdict is scheduled for May 25 at the Moscow City Court — the jury also sat there. Berezhnoy is accused of kidnapping (part 4 of article 126 of the Criminal Code), rape (part 4 of article 131 of the Criminal Code), sexual assault (part 4 of article 132 of the Criminal Code) and murder (part 2 of article 105 of the Criminal Code).
According to investigators, on June 30, 2021, he lured 8-year-old Nastya Muravyova to his apartment, after which he raped and killed her. Berezhnoy claimed that on June 30 he was drunk and took drugs. A Tyumen met a schoolgirl on a playground near his house, brought her to an apartment, where he raped and strangled her. He kept the body of the child in the refrigerator for several days. Then he put the corpse in a box and hid it on the shore of Lake Obrochnoe on August 17. The deceased was found two days later. For the duration of the trial and investigation, the ex-silovik was sent to a pre-trial detention center.
According to the Investigative Committee, from 2008 to 2011 Berezhnoy was an assistant to the district police officer in the Nyagan police department in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. He moved to Tyumen in 2015, and in 2021 he rented an apartment near the house of the deceased. At the time of his arrest, Berezhnoy worked as a furniture assembler. In July, the house where Berezhnoy lived was searched. Volunteers told 72.ru that the man was involved in the search for the schoolgirl when relatives reported the girl was missing.
The first collegium that considered the case of Berezhny in Tyumen was dissolved due to violation of the secrecy of the deliberation room, one of the jurors said about the board's decision before its official announcement. After that, the relatives of the victim petitioned to change the jurisdiction of the case — as a result, the materials were considered by a jury in the Moscow City Court. The defense opposed the transfer of the case to Moscow.
One of Berezhny's lawyers, Yelena Shikhova, left Russia in October 2022 due to threats from the security forces. According to her, the threats became more frequent after the dissolution of the jury. The lawyer Alexander Pochuev also reported about the pressure on the defenders and the defendant himself.