Russian bailiffs say murderer pardoned for military service not exempt from paying damages

Bailiffs in Russia’s Kemerovo region have said that Vladislav Kanyus, a resident of the region who was sentenced to 17 years in prison for the murder of 23-year-old Vera Pekhteleva in 2020 and pardoned by Vladimir Putin earlier this year, is not exempt from paying damages to the victim’s family.

Earlier, Pekhteleva’s father told journalists that bailiffs had notified the family that Kanyus was exempted from the payments by presidential decree.

A document sent by the Federal Bailiff Service (FBS) to the local news outlet NGS42.ru appears to confirm that Kanyus is still required to make the payment. Enforcement of the debt is currently suspended, however, since active-duty soldiers are temporarily freed from most legal payments while deployed.

According to NGS42.ru, the FBS believes that Kanyus is still in the combat zone, though the lawyer representing Vera Pekhteleva’s parents has said that Kanyus has already returned to Russia.

Vera Pekhteleva’s father told journalists that the court ordered Kanyus to pay four million rubles ($44,500) to the family.

Vera Pekhteleva’s mother

‘There are hundreds of mothers like me’ An interview with Oksana Pekhteleva, whose daughter’s killer won a presidential pardon for fighting in Ukraine

a year ago

Vera Pekhteleva’s mother

‘There are hundreds of mothers like me’ An interview with Oksana Pekhteleva, whose daughter’s killer won a presidential pardon for fighting in Ukraine

a year ago