A convicted Russian killer who killed his girlfriend and put her body through a meat grinder – and who shares a surname with Ukraine’s president – has been pardoned for fighting in the war.
Dmitry Zelensky, 41, a Chechen war veteran from the Perm region, strangled 27-year-old Tatiana Melekhina to death with his bare hands in 2018 and then tried to cover up the horrific crime by dismembering her body and turning it into minced meat.
“I butchered his body, ran it through a meat grinder, gathered the bones into three bags, and threw them into the river,” Zelensky was quoted as calmly telling investigators after turning himself in.
A year later, Zelensky was convicted and sentenced to 11 years in prison — but he served less than half his term before being recruited in November 2022 by Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenary group to fight in Ukraine, according to Russian news outlets.
In April this year, after serving 6 months on the front lines, Zelensky returned from the war zone — and two months later received an amnesty from the Russian government, his mother, Galina Zelenskaya, confirmed to the 59.ru news channel.
Convicted killer Dmitry Zelensky, 41, was pardoned in June, after serving 6 months on the front lines in Ukraine as a Wagner Group mercenary. Social media/east2west news
Since then, the former prisoner has been living with his aunt in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine and is making plans to move to the Black Sea coast city of Anapa to work in construction.
Galina Zelenskaya said she believed her son’s pardon was justified because he had shown remorse for his actions.
The victim’s sister has expressed frustration that the family was not informed of Zelensky’s release and pardon, although she said officials should have informed Melekhina’s loved ones of the prisoner’s whereabouts.
Zelensky strangled to death his girlfriend, Tatiana Melekhina, 27, and then put her body through a meat grinder to cover up the crime. Social media/east2west newss The victim’s sister has expressed disappointment that the family was not informed of Zelensky’s release and pardon, although she said officials should have informed Melekhina’s loved ones about the prisoner’s whereabouts. 59RU/east2west news
Melekhina was working as an accountant and living in the city of Perm when she met Zelensky — a man 9 years her senior working as a technician — and lived with him in the small town of Gubakha. She reportedly did not know at the time that her new boyfriend had a wife and daughter.
On June 21, 2018, Melekhina called her father to tell him that she was on her way to Perm. He then disappeared without a trace.
Zelensky initially told his girlfriend’s family that he gave her a ride into town and did not know what happened to her after that.
Melekhina was working as an accountant and living in the city of Perm when she met Zelensky — a man 9 years her senior working as a technician — and lived with him in the small town of Gubakha. Social media/east2west news
But then the man went to the police and confessed to killing and butchering the woman.
Zelensky claimed that he and Melekhina got into a fight because he talked badly about his childhood friend – a claim later denied by the friend who told police he had never met the girlfriend.
A verbal dispute between Zelenky and Melekhina turned into a fight, in which the man claimed his girlfriend kicked him in the groin, threw things, and shouted that he was fed up with everything.
“I became angry. I wanted to calm him down,” Zelensky told investigators. “He screamed. I grabbed her by the throat from behind, putting her in a choke hold… I dragged her along as I continued to hold her and tightened my grip on her throat. He stopped breathing.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov in Moscow on September 28, 2023. via REUTERS
His mother said Zelensky dumped the victim’s body out of fear and wanted to cover up the crime.
However, he later came to his sister and wife, also named Tatiana.
During Zelensky’s trial, Melekhina’s father said: “I want him to go from prison to the cemetery.”
Zelesnky’s sister, who attended the proceedings, begged for forgiveness from the victim’s family members.
He said that his brother “wasn’t always like this,” and claimed that he “changed” after serving in the Second Chechen War.
His mother said she believed her son had finally agreed to fight in Ukraine to “make up for what he did” – but also to shorten his sentence.
Zelensky will not return to his hometown at the request of his sister. Meanwhile, his ex-wife has severed all ties with him and his family – even changing her daughter’s last name, her mother said.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
