Twice-Convicted Russian Murderer Released For Second Time To Fight In Ukraine

A Russian man convicted of murder was reportedly released from prison to fight in Ukraine — for a second time.

Ivan Rossomakhin was serving a 14-year sentence when he was recruited by the Wagner mercenary group in 2022, the Moscow Times reported Monday, citing information from the victims' rights group Travmpunkt.

Rossomakhin, 29, was home on leave in the town of Vyatskiye Polyany, about 500 miles east of Moscow, when he was accused of raping and fatally stabbing an 85-year-old neighbor, Yulia Byuskikh, according to the BBC.

He was convicted in April and sentenced to 22 years in prison, later increased to 23 by an appeals court that said the slaying "involved extreme brutality."

But Rossomakhin spent less than six months in custody before signing a contract that sent him back to the frontline of Russia's war against Ukraine, the Moscow Times said.

"Grandma's killer has escaped punishment for his crime – again – and has gone to fight in the war," Byuskikh's granddaughter, Anna Pekareva, told the BBC.

Pekareva said her family was informed that Rossomakhin was freed on Aug. 19, just one week after he began serving his sentence.

"My first reaction was terror. I read the forensic reports and I know what this person did to my grandmother. It's monstrous that he has been released again," she said.

The Wagner group began recruiting prisoners in 2022 and Russia's Defense Ministry followed suit early last year, according to the Moscow Times.

In March, President Vladimir Putin signed a law suspending the sentences of prisoners who join the military and expunging the convictions of those who win medals, the Moscow Times said.

Last year, Russian courts sentenced a record 116 soldiers for murder, the Moscow Times reported in April, citing data obtained by the Mediazona website.

The Russian Embassy in London didn't respond to a request for comment, the BBC said.