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US News

PUTIN PARDONS RAPIST WHO BRUTALLY SLAUGHTERED MOTHER OF TWO IN EXCHANGE FOR
3-MONTH TOUR OF DUTY IN UKRAINE

By Snejana Farberov

Published Jan. 24, 2024, 1:39 p.m. ET

A convicted rapist and killer who brutally slaughtered a young mother on her way
to work was back on the streets in Russia after receiving a pardon from
President Vladimir Putin in exchange for serving 3 months on the frontlines of
Ukraine.

Grigoriy Povilaiko, 31, has recently returned to his hometown of Vladivostok in
Russia’s Far East, where those who knew him were left wondering how it was
possible that the felon sentenced in 2022 to decades in prison for a brutal
crime has already regained his freedom.

A source told the local Telegram news channel VL.ru that Povilaiko had signed a
military contract in October 2023 to fight in the war. Typically, contracts
offered to Russian prison inmates require them to serve in Ukraine for at least
6 months before being eligible or a pardon.

“Who the hell knows how he left after three,” the source told the publication.
“He may have gotten injured, of course.”

In August 2021, Povilaiko ambushed 37-year-old Anna Koshulko, a married
mom-of-two, in her garage as she was getting read to go to work, and savagely
slaughtered her.

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160 YEARS AGO, NEW RECORDS REVEAL

6
Grigoriy Povilaiko, 31, a convicted Russian murderer and rapist, has been freed
after agreeing to serve in the war in Ukraine. Social media/east2west news
6
Anna Koshulko, 37, a married mom-of-two, was savagely raped, stabbed and beaten
to death by Povilaiko in 2021. Social media/east2west news

“He didn’t just kill her. He attacked her with a knife. He raped her, killed
her, raped her, and killed her,” the victim’s outraged husband, Alexander
Koshulko, told the independent Russian publication Novaya Gazeta.

“He didn’t just take her and strangle her. She was covered in bruises, totally
beaten up, bleeding, all blue. Just a nightmare. And she screamed — no one came
out to help. No one…” the grieving husband added.

Koshulko described the harrowing moment he opened the garage door to find his
wife covered in blood, with her underwear missing.

“It was clear that she had been anally raped. There were feces, everything
covered in blood. She was covered in hematomas, bruises, her hair torn out,”
Koshulko told the news outlet Baza in November.

6
Povilaiko was arrested just hours after stealing the murdered woman’s car and
heading with pals to the beach. social media; e2w news

After killing the woman, Povilaiko stole Koshulko’s blue Hyundai Creta, drove
home to change his blood-soaked t-shirt, and then picked up his pals and headed
to the beach to drink beers.

He was arrested hours later, after ramming a police car and putting up a fight.

In April 2022, Povilaiko was found guilty on five counts of murder, rape, sexual
assault, theft and use of violence against a government official, and sentenced
to 24 years in prison.

But after serving just a year behind bars, Povilaiko accepted an offer from the
Russian Ministry of Defense to join the war effort, following in the footsteps
of what is believed to be thousands of inmates who have agreed to fight on the
front lines for the prospect of securing their freedom, should they survive.

6
Povilaiko, pictured with his former partner and their daughter, served just a
year of his 24-year prison. Social media/east2west news
6
Russian President Vladimir Putin has granted pardons to thousands of criminals,
among them violent offenders, in exchange for their military service in Ukraine.
via REUTERS

When Alexander Koshulko learned of his wife’s killer’s early release, he
frantically wrote to multiple military officials, including Russian Defense
Minister Sergey Shoigu, demanding that he be thrown back in prison.

“I’ve started sounding the alarm everywhere I can,” he recounted to Novaya
Gazeta last month. “If he dies like a dog, fine. To hell with him — nobody will
miss him. But if he comes back? God forbid, Povilaiko gets some kind of injury.
They’ll discharge him in two months.”

To Koshulko’s dismay, that is exactly what happened.

“He has to be locked in prison half his life but he comes home, as a hero of the
special military operation, and receives all the benefits and disability
[payments],” the widower said. “I just don’t have words, I am hysterical. How is
this possible? My wife is not alive, but this creature lives.”

This is not the first time that a violent criminal has been pardoned by Putin
for fighting in Ukraine.

6
Povilaiko spent just 3 months fighting in Ukraine, before returning home to the
city of Vladivostok. Social media/east2west news

It was reported in November that Denis Gorin, 44, a serial killer and cannibal,
was back on the streets in the remote Sakhalin region, despite being sentenced
to 22 years in prison for stabbing a man to death and eating his flesh.

What do you think? Post a comment.

Gorin, who killed at least four people — but possibly as many as 13 — returned
home after apparently being wounded during his tour of duty in Ukraine.

News of Gorin’s release came just days after it was revealed Putin had pardoned
33-year-old Nikolai Ogolobyak, 33, a self-confessed Satanist who took part in
the ritual killings of four teenagers — two of whom were beheaded and partially
cannibalized.

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