A verdict was handed down in Yaroslavl for a 2006 murder

In Yaroslavl, Maxim Matyash and Mikhail Velkhovoy were sentenced to imprisonment for the murder of a person of “non-Slavic appearance.”

On February 16, 2024, the Yaroslavl Regional Court rendered a verdict under paragraphs. “d”, “g”, “l” part 2 tbsp. 105 of the Criminal Code (murder committed with particular cruelty by a group of persons by prior conspiracy, motivated by national hatred and enmity). Brothers Maxim Matyash (born 1991) and Mikhail Velkhovoy (born 1987) were found guilty. The court finally, taking into account part of the unserved sentence for a previously committed crime, sentenced Maxim Matyash to 15 years, and Mikhail Velkhovoy to 17 years of imprisonment to be served in a maximum security correctional colony.

According to the court, in 2006 in the Yaroslavl region, Matyash and Velkhovoy decided to kill any person “based on national hatred.” While intoxicated, they met two more young people in Uglich and invited them to participate in an attack on a person. A group of young people with metal bars met a stranger of “non-Slavic appearance”, born in 1961, at the Uglich station, entered into a conflict with him and began beating him. The two accomplices realized that the attack went beyond the agreement and walked away, while the brothers continued to beat the man. The attackers fled the scene. The victim died from his injuries in the intensive care unit of the Uglich central regional hospital.

Two accomplices were detained in 2007 and were convicted of intentionally causing grievous bodily harm, negligently resulting in the death of a person.

Maxim Matyash and Mikhail Velkhovoy, being citizens of Ukraine, hid there and ended up in prison there. Matyash was convicted in early 2011 of premeditated murder to 14 years in prison. He was in the Volnovakha correctional colony in the village of Molodezhnoe, Volnovakha district, and then was transferred closer to Donetsk - to the Makeyevka correctional colony. Velkhovoy was also in prison.

After “receiving information that those wanted were in prison in new regions of Russia,” they were transferred and charged with murder. Previously, they were also convicted of murder motivated by national hatred.

Sources

• The Yaroslavl Regional Court announced the verdict in a criminal case of murder due to national hatred // Official website of the Yaroslavl Regional Court. 2024. February 16.