In Novosibirsk, a former mercenary was convicted of violence against schoolgirls

The court in Novosibirsk found Sergei Shakhmatov, a former mercenary of PMC Wagner, guilty of raping two schoolgirls and sentenced him to 17 years in a high-security prison, writes the website Sibir.Realii.

The Novosibirsk Regional Court handed down the verdict on February 28. This was reported by the official group of courts of general jurisdiction of the region on the VKontakte social network.

The name of the defendant is not mentioned in the press release. Details are provided by the local Telegram channel “Extrenny NSK”. According to his information, the convicted person is Sergey Shakhmatov, a recidivist and a former mercenary of PMC Wagner. It is confirmed that he admitted his guilt, stated that he was in an insane state due to drugs and alcohol. Earlier, he was tried for theft and fraud. Shakhmatov served a total of 15 years. He was recruited into the PMC from the colony. The founder of the company, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said that the person accused of violence against schoolgirls in Novosibirsk served as PMC and fought in Ukraine.

Novosibirsk mass media wrote about Shakhmatov’s arrest in May of last year. According to their data, he led schoolgirls aged 10 and 12 behind garages, threatened them with weapons and sexually assaulted them. It was also noted that the suspect was in a military uniform with a skull on a chevron.

• In recent months, there have been many reports that former prisoners returning from the front in Ukraine are committing new crimes. In Primorye, the former “Wagnerov” Alexander Derzhalov was recently sentenced to seven years, found him guilty of attempted murder.
• There, the court sentenced former mercenary Maksym Volkov, who killed a friend after returning from the war, to seven years in a strict-regime prison. In 2022, Volkova had already received 8 years for murder, but was released, probably received a pardon due to participation in hostilities.