In Kemerovo today they began to consider a criminal case against two police officers — Major Mikhail Balashov and Captain Dmitry Taritsyn. It was these police officers who did not respond to numerous calls and did not come to the house where 23-year-old Vera Pekhteleva was literally torn to pieces by the sadistic executioner.
This terrible tragedy broke out in January 2020, but only now received wide publicity: the relatives and acquaintances of the murdered woman did not agree with the charges brought against the police officer.
On that day, Vera came to her ex-boyfriend to pick up her things, but she could not leave the apartment. Vladislav Kanyus held her for several hours, beat her for a long time, and then strangled her with a wire from an iron. Neighbors called the police several times, called for help, talked about a fight in the apartment and heartbreaking female screams. But no one responded to the call and numerous calls. When the tenants broke down the door themselves, it was too late. The girl was dead. Her executioner was also nearby.
As a result, the policemen who ignored the call were charged under Part 1 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation «Negligence». The NGS42.RU correspondent attended the first court session.
Police officers were not even removed from service
The charges were brought against two senior operational officers on duty, 41-year-old Mikhail Balashov and 40-year-old Dmitry Taritsyn. Before the beginning of the meeting, they did not speak to each other, or to lawyers or journalists.
As it turned out in court, the police officers were not taken into custody, they were given a preventive measure not related to the pre-trial detention center. Moreover, they continue to work in the «Leninsky» police department — until now no one has removed them from the service. They, so to speak, continue to do their best to protect citizens, ensuring their safety.
Before the start of the session, the judge asked all the participants in the trial if they were against the presence of journalists. The defendants and their lawyers were against.
— Even before the start of the meeting, the criminal case began to be discussed on Instagram. We believe that such an active discussion, photography, video filming, placement in the media can have an impact on the court and the subsequent verdict, — said the lawyer of one of the accused Lyubov Voronina.
However, the judge considered the arguments insufficiently compelling, and the press was allowed to cover the events.
After that, the representative of the state prosecution filed a petition to the court to return the criminal case to the prosecutor in order to re-qualify the charge for a more serious one. A similar request was submitted by Ilya Bolshakov, the lawyer of the injured party, who supported the prosecutor.
He said that before the start of the court session, the injured party submitted a similar petition to all the participants in the process. This document is at the disposal of the editors.
Lawyers find no reason to charge the police
Now both policemen are being tried under Part 1 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Under this article, the maximum punishment is a fine of up to 120 thousand rubles or correctional labor. The father of the murdered girl, Yevgeny Pekhtelev, on whose behalf the petition was drawn up, asks to change the article to Part 2 of Art. 293. According to her, the maximum punishment is up to 5 years in a colony.
In the petition of Vera’s father, it is described that on January 13, 2020, Balashov and Taritsyn took up daily duty at 09:00 in the duty unit of the Leninsky police department of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs in the city of Kemerovo. On January 14, at 04:55, they received a message from the duty unit of the Russian MIA Administration for the city of Kemerovo about a family conflict in an apartment on Leningradsky Prospekt. Balashov entered the message into the electronic card, but did not promptly respond to the message about the crime being committed, did not send the police officers.
At 05:21 Balashov left for a break. At this time, Taritsyn performed his duties. At 05:28, Taritsyn, who knew about the first call, received a call from the operational duty officer about the screams.
— Thus, the factual circumstances set out in the indictment indicate the existence of grounds for qualifying the actions / omissions of these persons as a more serious crime, a socially dangerous act, the petition says.
However, the defense of the accused stated that there is no reason to return the case to the prosecutor’s office. According to lawyers for Balashov and Taritsyn, there is no causal relationship between the actions of the police and the death of the girl.
— Today, at this stage of the consideration of the criminal case, we have not examined any evidence and have no right to investigate. But I believe that in this situation it is simply impossible to impute to our clients the infliction of serious consequences in the form of the death of the victim Pekhteleva by negligence. First, between the actions that were committed and the ensuing death of Pekhteleva, that is, her murder, a cause-and-effect relationship must certainly be established. I believe that the causal relationship between the actions of my client and the victim’s death has certainly not been established and cannot be established, — said the lawyer of one of the accused Lyubov Voronina.
The ex-boyfriend of Vera Vladislav Kanyus strangled her with a wire from the iron, but did not admit his guilt
The defender of the defendants clarified that calls from neighbors came to the 112 service, so the police simply did not know what situation the girl was in. In addition, the lawyer drew attention to the fact that the girl’s death came not from beatings, but from strangulation. We quote her speech almost verbatim so that all the cynicism is clear.
— This is a one-time action. And where, at what moment the guilty person decided to use the object with which the victim was strangled in the present case, is not established at all. But in any case, death came from strangulation. And that the guilty person will use an object against her [the victim] and will block her respiratory tract, our clients certainly do not know and could not know, ”said Lyubov Voronina.
Voronina also stated that the prosecutor’s office made a motion to re-qualify the case only because a «hype» began on social networks and the media.
«The daughter would be alive»
It is not difficult to guess what the father of the murdered girl thinks about all this. Evgeny Pekhtelev said that he maintained a relationship with his daughter, despite the fact that they broke up with her mother. The death of my daughter was the biggest grief. The father is sure that if it were not for the police, or rather, their inaction, the daughter would be alive.
— [The fairest punishment] — shooting. They were accomplices in this crime. They were complicit in the murder of my daughter. [Throughout the year] we hoped for justice. We acted within the framework of the law — we filed various complaints and petitions. But the case was taken to court, and we have less chances that justice will prevail, ”Vera’s father said.
Meanwhile, the court went to meet the relatives of the unfortunate girl. The judges deliberated for over an hour and ultimately decided to grant the petition to return the case to the prosecutor’s office.
— The court ruled: a criminal case against Balashov and Taritsyn, accused of committing a crime under Part 1 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, to return to the prosecutor of the Leninsky district of the city of Kemerovo to remove obstacles for its consideration by the court, — the judge read out the decision.
It was possible to foresee the reaction of the «combat» officers. The police did not admit their guilt. After the hearing, the defendants’ lawyers did not speak to the journalists, as did the police themselves. But, most likely, in the next 10 days they will try to appeal against this court decision, no matter how indignant the whole country is now, saying that the police have the courage to beat people at the rallies, but how to provide assistance — you will not get enough of them. As State Duma deputy Oksana Pushkina told us before, the responsibility for bullying Vera lies with the state. It could not prevent what happened. In this situation, the state was represented by just two officers who were most worried not about the murdered Vera, but about their own skin.
As for the sadist who massacred Vera, he also decided not to take the blame completely. Former boyfriend of Vera Vladislav Kanyus admitted guilt only partially. The victims’ lawyer, Ilya Bolshakov, told us that the next hearing was scheduled for March 2.
What is this monster that took the life of his ex-girlfriend after she decided to break up with him?
«I didn’t want her to be friends with him.»
According to Evgeny, Vera’s father, the daughter had been dating her future murderer for three years. Parents were immediately against this relationship: the guy has an incomplete secondary education, he did not work anywhere and did not even want to. The girl’s parents were also worried that Vladislav’s father shot himself almost 10 years ago, when, after the theft, a criminal case was opened against him. Relatives were worried that after such an event, the daughter’s fiancé might have mental problems.
“When I found out that she was friends with him, I told her:“ Vera, I don’t want you to be friends with him. ” He explained that, they say, he is the son of a suicide, rotten blood. And everything, she immediately began to hide from me that she continues to meet. I have not seen or heard him anywhere. My brother saw him once or twice in the trading house, but he (Vladislav. — Ed.) Did not come up. Well, you never know, you do not want to communicate, well, that’s it. And she hid him from me, — says the father of the murdered girl.
The girl’s father was against her relationship with the guy, who then killed her
According to him, Vera broke off relations with Vlad back in November 2019 — she returned to her university dormitory. But for a long time she did not take things from the apartment, which they rented together on Leningradsky Prospekt. Eugene is sure that his daughter broke up with her former lover because she realized that this is a one-sided relationship.
— He didn’t want to leave. Why should he part? He has eight classes of education. I did not work anywhere and did not want to. He even had a driver’s license, he could, like many guys, work as a taxi driver, but no. And I saw that lately she called me, let’s say: «Dad, the cosmetics are over,» well, give her these 2-3 thousand. Sore throat — on medicine to go away faster. Well, he pulled money through his daughter. And then she herself realized that she was drawn by this conditional family life, — Evgeny Pekhtelev sighs heavily, remembering all this.
He says that Vera didn’t ask him to go with her to get things and didn’t even tell him about it. As a result, according to the girl’s father, the guy first began to humiliate her psychologically, and then beat her.
She received her first injuries 6 hours before her death.
Evgeny said that, according to the conclusion of the forensic expert, the girl received the first, minor injuries 6 (!) Hours before her death. With each passing hour, the guy was hitting harder and more often. As a result, the girl died on January 14, 2020 at 06:30. A total of 56 blows were found on her body.
At the hearing in the criminal case against two police officers, the judge announced the cause of the girl’s death:
“The death occurred before the arrival of the ambulance staff … as a result of a neck injury, accompanied by mechanical asphyxia, and a head injury, which were complicated by the development of cerebral edema,” the judge read out.
Vladislav Kanyus was charged under Part 1 of Art. 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation «Murder». The consideration of this case began on November 20, 2020. And since then the meeting has been postponed 7 times.
According to the lawyer of Vera’s relatives, Ilya Bolshakov, this is happening for objective reasons. The fact is that now the consideration of the case is at the stage of presenting evidence and questioning witnesses.
— Presentation of evidence and questioning of witnesses. It is not always possible to ensure attendance. Now we have established that one of the witnesses lives in Moscow, we will organize a video conference. The investigator, who initially investigated this case, is now in Mezhdurechensk and carries out his activities there. Since there is a need to interrogate him, the prosecution will interrogate him using video conferencing. It will also be on March 2, — said the lawyer of the victims Ilya Bolshakov.
He added that Vladislav did not cooperate with the investigation and partially admitted his guilt. Like, he dealt Vera only 4 blows and did not want to kill her. Who inflicted the remaining 52 and finished off the 23-year-old girl is to be found out by the court. So far, we see three healthy men who are very scared to answer for the crime, as a result of which Vera died.
