Two years ago, in March 2018, Ivan Afanasov, an excellent student at the Kursk Musical College for the Blind, killed his neighbor Alexander Shakhov, with whom he lived in the same room for four years.
The court sentenced Afanasov to seven years in prison.
However, four months later he was released from the colony for health reasons (in addition to vision problems, Ivan also has a number of diseases).
Once free, Afanasov began to threaten the friends and relatives of the deceased, who now fear for their lives.
"He would have stabbed me too"
As a friend of the deceased, who studied with him at college, Vadim Minnikov, told RT, the murder took place shortly before graduation - in the last semester of the fourth year.
According to Minnikov, shortly before the tragedy, the neighbors had a falling out.
“Afanasov did not let Shakhov sleep.
At night, he spoke loudly on Skype.
And in front there were GOS.
Alexander complained that due to lack of sleep he could not exercise normally.
On this basis, they began conflicts, and Afanasov began to threaten him with murder, ”recalls Minnikov.
The mother of the deceased Valentin Shakhov also talks about the threats.
“Once he told me on the phone that Ivan was preventing him from sleeping at night.
For a conversation, my son went out into the corridor, and Afanasov at that moment also went out and overheard.
And then he screamed like: "Snitch, you gave me up, I will stab you," the woman recalls.
On the day of the murder, March 11, 2018, the neighbors, according to Minnikov, fought again.
“I was in Shakhov's room when Afanasov rushed in and started shouting at him.
I realized that a scandal was brewing and decided to leave.
Ivan was very aggressive and probably, if I hadn't left, he would have stabbed me too.
As soon as I went into my room and sat down on the bed, I heard Sasha's heart-rending cry.
My roommate and I ran out, started calling for help, and ran after the nurse, ”says Minnikov.
Ivan's mother, Valentina Afanasova, worked as a nurse at the same college.
According to Minnikov, she allegedly prevented from entering the room where the murder took place until the very last moment and tried to destroy the evidence.
“Ivan's mother locked herself in the room and said through the door that Alexander's blood sugar had risen.
Then a guard came up to us and threatened us that we would be responsible for a false call to the ambulance and the police.
And at that moment she eliminated the evidence — pulled out a knife, wiped off the blood.
Then Sasha's mother arrived, the police, the UK, ”he says.
Threat audio messaging
Threat stream
As Valentina Shakhova recalls, at the trial, Ivan said that he killed her son for the alarm clock, which rang in the morning and prevented him from sleeping.
Afanasov was sentenced to seven years of strict regime, but released after four months, because there were no conditions in the colony for keeping the blind.
After his release, he and his parents moved to the closed city of Lesnoye, Sverdlovsk region.
And recently, Shakhov's parents and his friends began to receive threats from Afanasov.
For example, Minnikov received audio messages from Afanasov in social networks with the following content: “Tremble, ... I’ll kill you, do you understand, freak?
Just like Shakhov, I will stab. "
“Since October 20, threats have started coming from him.
He began to threaten me on a social network, send audio messages with threats.
I called the police and wrote a statement.
Threats from him come to several other former students and a girl with whom he lived in the same city earlier, with her he knew at school, ”says Minnikov.
Shakhov's mother also complained about threats.
“Now he writes threats to us too - he asks if we are dead or not, otherwise“ he can help, ”says Valentina.
They crave revenge and will not rest
Ivan himself did not want to talk to RT.
His father, Yevgeny Afanasov, believes that his son is unfairly accused - behind this allegedly are Shakhov's parents, dissatisfied with the mild punishment.
“They will not calm down, they need revenge.
We live very far from them, Ivan is under my supervision all the time, behaves completely normal.
This is a blind person who lives far away, in a closed city.
What threat can he pose, how will he get to Kursk and kill someone?
They just infuriated that he left the colony ahead of schedule, they yearn for revenge and will not calm down, ”he explains to RT.
Shakhov's friends who have received threats are seriously scared and want to complain to the prosecutor's office.
“He is not entitled to anything for murder, but how will he be punished for threats?
Nobody will mess with.
I went through all the circles of hell and realized that our human life is worthless, ”Valentina Shakhova believes.
The relatives of the deceased have already created a petition demanding that Afanasov be returned to the penitentiary system, but after that, according to them, the stream of threats against them intensified.