Kathrine Frich
A wave of Russian court decisions has revealed how suspects and convicted killers are being released if they agree to fight in Ukraine.
Families say justice has collapsed, while reporters note that even serial offenders are leaving detention for the front.
Three major cases detailed by Sibir.Realii and other outlets show how investigations were halted, sentences cancelled, and murder suspects freed.
The Serov murders
In Serov, investigators accused 49-year-old lawyer Alexander Goook of killing Olga Soroka and her six-year-old son.
The case became known for a macabre detail circulated in regional reporting: “Olga’s head was found in a pot.”
Residents discovered part of her remains months after her disappearance.
According to case files cited by journalists, Goook admitted to dismembering both victims and discarding the bags in rubbish containers.
Most of the remains were never located.
Relatives later learned from reporters that “He was released without trial.”
Officials quietly closed the case after Goook requested to join the war, leaving the family unable to bury the child.
Anger and suspicion
Olga’s relatives questioned why her husband reported the disappearance so late and condemned investigators for stopping proceedings.
Locals cited by Sibir.Realii said they feared Goook’s possible return, though many doubted he would survive deployment.
A journalist familiar with the town said colleagues had long described Goook as withdrawn and noted that some suspected Olga might not have been his first victim.
St. Petersburg case
In St. Petersburg, the Moscow District Court suspended proceedings against 27-year-old Arkady Morozov, who confessed to killing his fiancée after she ended their relationship.
Investigators summarised the attack bluntly: “He stabbed her six times.”
Morozov called emergency services himself and later recovered from a self-inflicted wound.
Despite the ongoing murder case, the court approved his request to enlist.
Online reactions included comments such as “‘Training’, a way to erase debts . . .” and “God himself preserved the patriot, obviously!”
The hit-squad network
Kommersant reported that Alexei Chebotarev, a former special-forces officer convicted of 10 murders and two attempted murders, was also released to fight.
His case was part of a sprawling investigation into a network of ex-police hitmen responsible for numerous killings and mistaken shootings described in old reports as “Accidentally shot by killers.”
Another member of the same group had earlier walked free through the enlistment mechanism.
According to the data project “If we are exact,” more than 25,000 criminal cases were suspended in early 2025 for reasons unrelated to fugitives or illness, compared with 648 in 2019.
Human rights advocates say wartime recruitment has overridden legal limits, enabling violent offenders to avoid prison.
Sources: Sibir.Realii, Kommersant, Digi24
