In Chita, the verdict was announced to the former conscript soldier Ramil Shamsutdinov, who on October 25, 2019, shot eight people in his military unit and wounded two more.
A judge of the Second Eastern District Military Court sentenced Shamsutdinov to 24 years and six months in a strict regime colony.
The case of a conscript soldier was considered by a jury, which ruled on December 28, 2020 that he was guilty of a crime.
At the same time, the jury considered that he was worthy of leniency.
Thanks to this, Shamsutdinov escaped life imprisonment.
Ramil Shamsutdinov served in military unit No. 54160 in the closed village of Gorny near Chita.
According to him, he and his fellow young colleagues were regularly subjected to bullying and physical violence from the side of the senior servicemen.
On October 22, Shamsutdinov took up guard duty for three days.
As the court established, during his watch, senior lieutenant Danil Pyankov all this time forced him to learn the charter of the internal service.
As a result, Shamsutdinov managed to sleep only a little more than five hours instead of the prescribed 24 hours during the time of the guard.
On the evening of October 25, while changing the guard, Shamsutdinov suddenly opened fire from a machine gun at his colleagues.
Those who did not have time to hide and lay down on the ground, he shot in the head.
As a result, eight people were killed, two more were injured.
During the arrest, which was carried out on the territory of the unit by the special forces, Shamsutdinov did not offer resistance.
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After the mass execution of Shamsutdinov's surviving colleague Ruslan Mukhatov, the court sentenced him to two years of suspended imprisonment and a fine of 30 thousand rubles for bullying and beating up recruits of this unit, including Shamsutdinov.
The case was considered in a special order, and Mukhatov fully admitted his guilt in the bullying.
During the trial of Shamsutdinov himself, which began in the summer of 2020, he pleaded guilty to the execution, but did not admit claims for compensation for moral harm from the victims.
The defendant refused to participate in the debate and to deliver the last word.
The defendant's defense emphasized that the senior servicemen constantly beat Shamsutdinov, deprived him of sleep, threatened to dip his face into the toilet bowl, and extorted money.
During the debate of the parties, the state prosecutor previously asked to sentence the conscript to 25 years in prison - the maximum term provided for by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in the event that a sentence is imposed on a combination of crimes.
As a result, the court sentenced him to 19.5 years for the murder of eight people and another 9.5 years for the attempted murder of two colleagues.
The court appointed the final punishment of 24.5 years in a maximum security colony by adding up the sentences partially.
Shamsutdinov himself hoped that he would be sentenced to no more than 15 years, his father told about this.
In total, claims were filed against the defendant in the amount of about 28 million rubles, as a result, the court partially satisfied these requirements and collected 9.8 million rubles from the former conscript in favor of the victims.
"Of course Ramil committed a crime."
Lawyer Sergei Gritsko, who represented the interests of some of the victims at the trial, told RT that he would appeal the verdict as soon as he received a court decision.
“Taking into account the jury’s decision that Shamsutdinov deserves leniency, he could have been given no more than 25 years.
Life imprisonment, even for such a grave crime, because of this, the court could not have awarded it, - explained RT Gritsko.
“And another six months, I think, was deducted when the judge took into account mitigating circumstances.”
He believes that public opinion could have influenced the court's decision.
“The jury is the same people.
They also surf the Internet.
And they write everything there.
In some publications, let's call them that, they make a hero out of Shamsutdinov.
A hero who killed eight people, ”said the defender.
In turn, Shamsutdinov's lawyer Ramil Tugushev called the sentence too harsh.
“Of course, Ramil committed a crime, including innocent people suffered.
He should be punished, but, in my opinion, it is worth talking about 15-20 years here, '' he told RT.
"However, the fact that we managed to avoid a life sentence is already a big plus."
According to the lawyer, there are a number of mitigating circumstances in the Shamsutdinov case that allowed the convicted private to count on a shorter term.
“He completely repented, admitted guilt, apologized to the victims, actively contributed to the disclosure of other crimes, including those related to hazing and assault.
Why the court did not take this into account, I do not know.
We need to familiarize ourselves with the verdict, ”Tugushev noted.
He also said that next week he plans to meet with his client to discuss the details of the appeal.
“First of all, the question itself - whether or not we are going to appeal - needs to be discussed with Ramil, it depends on his will,” the lawyer added.
"If he agrees, we will already discuss all the grounds for appeal and make a final decision."