A 55-year-old Russian man, previously sentenced to 11 years in prison and then recruited to fight in the Ukraine war, has doused his sister in gasoline and burnt her alive in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region, local media outlet NN.ru reported on Friday.
According to law enforcement, the sister died instantly, while the man was hospitalised with multiple burns. The cause of the murder appears to be a domestic dispute.
The Russian Investigative Committee has initiated a criminal case under the article of murder committed with extreme cruelty. The man, who will soon be charged, has confessed to the crime.
According to Russian Telegram channel Baza, the man in question is Oleg Grechko who has been prosecuted for murder and theft on several occasions. Last March, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for killing his acquaintance by stabbing him at least 12 times with a knife and then strangling him.
A year later, he was pardoned upon joining the Wagner Group to fight in the war in Ukraine, as per Baza. However, as of summer 2023 he had returned home and become a person of interest in another criminal case on theft and battery, NN.ru reported.