A Russian convicted murderer who was sentenced to 11 years in prison after he killed his girlfriend and put her body through a meat grinder has been pardoned after fighting against Ukraine, his mother said.

The mother of Dmitry Zelensky told the Russian media news outlet 59.RU that her son was pardoned after serving less than half of his sentence.

Zelensky, a veteran of the Second Chechen War, confessed to the 2018 murder of his 27-year-old girlfriend, Tatiana Melekhina, in 2019, 59.RU reported.

He admitted to strangling her to death after a quarrel, before disposing of her body in a horrific way to try to cover up his tracks, the media outlet said.

According to 59.RU, Zelensky told investigators during an interrogation that he dismembered her body, processed it in a meat grinder, collected the bones in three bags, and threw them into the river.

110 points

There are so many wild things about that story. Assuming it is all true, he strangled his girlfriend, dismembered her, ran her through a meat grinder and disposed of the bones in three different bags. He got only 11 years. He was pardoned for being part of the Russian Army invading Ukraine. He only served in Ukraine for six months before retiring.

All that is insane. A murder with an already hilariously light sentence is pardoned by being on the front lines for six months?

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31 points

Nobody in Russian leadership expect any of the criminals to last that long.

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9 points

How did he even get caught? The disposal plan was rather sound

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4 points

He confessed.

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3 points

I’ve read it in a russian source and it said he murdered her because she insulted some other guy, his friend. Probs a vet too.

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63 points

He only got 11 years for that?

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37 points
*

To be fair 11 years is a reeeeaalllllly long time in Russia. That’s almost middle aged for them at the rate they’ve been going through soldiers.

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17 points

I would say ~10 years is normal for a murder in Germany and other European countries. I don’t know about current Russia but here the idea is jail time should lead to rehabilitation and a bit of punishment. In the US it is much more focused on punishment.

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27 points

A murder verdict carries a mandatory life sentence in Germany, you might be thinking of manslaughter, which has a minimum of five. Life-long means possibility of parole after no fewer than 15 years, the average is 18.9 years, 13% sit longer than 25 years including, indeed, life-long. Not to speak of the possibility of preventive detention.

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-5 points

I didn’t want to go in the details. My point was that sentences in the vercinity of 10 years for murder are common in Europe.

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13 points

It’s only about punishment in the US.

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9 points

Mostly led by the “Christians”

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1 point

Don’t forget Canada.

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7 points

There’s no rehabilitation going on in Russia lol

I do agree with the rest of your sentiment though. In developed countries with rehab systems 10 years is a fair time frame.

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-5 points

10 years for ending someone else’s life? I’m glad we have longer sentences for that here in the U.S. Don’t get me wrong–I’m all for prison reform and introducing rehabilitative elements to reduce recidivism, but Europeans seem to have more concern for criminals than they do for the victims of crime.

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8 points

Rehabilitation is how you show concern for victims of crime, not long sentences.

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4 points

And yet our homicide rate is way higher than the next closest European country. Clearly those longer prison sentences in the victim’s “best interest” are doing wonders for reducing victims.

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3 points

To be fair it’s not going to bring the person back and proper rehabilitation punishes the person through realization of wrong doing and can give back to the world and communities through redemption.

Sure 10 years but the guilt and disappointment is eternal. I think the rehab program and capabilities mean more than the time frame and clearly the science is on team rehab.

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3 points

Yes, I can understand both views. It is simply a difference in culture, I guess…

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0 points

10 years in a Russian prison is an extremely brutal punishment. Here’s a mild example of what happens there https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1kQblKeOT4E

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11 points

It’s not like he did anything serious like refer to the war in Ukraine as a war

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1 point
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You won’t last a day in a Russian prison.

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27 points

Literal orcs aren’t even trying to pretend they’re not orcs.

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23 points

The fact his name is Zelensky allows for some fun trolling when a vatnik starts spewing propaganda about Zelenskyy.

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15 points

Heading to the front? Sounds like he’ll be getting a death sentence soon enough then.

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