A Russian man with a haunting history has been granted a pardon after serving time for a gruesome murder. Dmitry Zelensky (pictured above), 41, a Chechen war veteran, strangled his 27-year-old girlfriend, Tatiana Melekhina, in 2018 and then took disturbing steps to hide the crime by dismembering her body with a meat grinder.
Zelensky confessed to this horrifying act, stating, "I butchered her body, ran it through a meat grinder, collected the bones into three bags, and threw them in the river."
Consequently, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison but served less than half of that time before joining the Wagner mercenary group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin to fight in Ukraine in November 2022.
Remarkably, Zelensky returned from his six-month stint on the front lines in April and, two months later, received a pardon from the Russian government. He has since been residing with his aunt in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine, with plans to relocate to the Black Sea coastal town of Anapa to work in construction.
Zelensky's mother, Galina Zelenskaya, believes that her son's pardon is justified because he has shown remorse for his actions. However, the victim's family is dismayed by the lack of notification regarding his release and pardon, despite assurances from officials that Melekhina's loved ones would be kept informed of his whereabouts.
The victims sister holding the victims picture
Tatiana Melekhina, an accountant, had moved in with Zelensky, who was nine years her senior and working as a machinist in the town of Gubakha. Unbeknownst to her, he had a wife and daughter at the time.
She went missing in June 2018 after calling her father to inform him that she was on her way to Perm.
Initially, Zelensky claimed to have given her a ride to the city and was unaware of her subsequent fate. However, he later confessed to her murder, alleging that they had a heated argument over his childhood friend.
This claim was refuted by the friend, who stated that he had never met Melekhina. The verbal dispute escalated into a physical altercation, during which Zelensky claimed that his girlfriend kicked him and became violent.
In a fit of rage, he strangled her.
During his trial, Melekhina's father expressed his desire to see Zelensky go "from prison to the cemetery." Zelensky's sister, who attended the proceedings, appealed to the victim's family for forgiveness, insisting that her brother had changed after serving in the Second Chechen War.
Zelensky's mother believes that her son's decision to fight in Ukraine was an attempt to atone for his actions and reduce his sentence. As a result, he will not be returning to his hometown at his sister's request.
Furthermore, his ex-wife has severed all ties with him and his family, even changing her and her daughter's last names.
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