Convicted murderer freed to fight in Ukraine resumes life in hometown

A convicted murderer from the city of Zelenograd in central Russia who was given early release from a 16-year prison sentence to fight in Ukraine, is back at liberty in his hometown where he now works at a gym, a local resident informed Novaya Gazeta Europe on Monday.

While the details of Dmitry Tomilin’s recruitment to fight in Ukraine and the date of his return to Zelenograd are unknown, his profile on the gym’s app refers to him as a “veteran of the special military operation”, although it’s unsurprisingly silent about his criminal past. 

Tomilin’s profile page also says that he used to be a professional ice hockey player who played for HC Dynamo Moscow, and his name can be found on the list of players for the 2008/2009 season. 

Court documents confirm that Tomilin, who once worked as a police officer in Moscow, was sentenced to 16 years in prison for murder and the illegal acquisition and storage of ammunition in 2017, alongside an acquaintance, Vitaly Tolpeko.

Tomilin and Tolpeko fatally shot a woman in 2016, hit her over the head with a crowbar at least four times, dumped her body in a well and removed the blood and bullet casings from the scene of the crime. Upon learning that the police were looking for the missing woman, Tomilin and Tolpeko removed her body from the well and threw it into a pit in the south of Moscow.