War veteran received 20 years for killing a woman with Down syndrome

The First Western District Military Court in St. Petersburg sentenced Andrei Usachev, a participant in the war in Ukraine, to 20 years in prison, who raped and killed a woman in February 2025. This was reported to Sever.Realii by a source familiar with the convict.

Usachev must spend the first five years in prison under special regime conditions, after which he will receive a transfer to a colony. The court found him guilty of murder, rape, theft, as well as desertion and unauthorized abandonment of a unit. The prosecution demanded a life sentence for Usachev.

The court arrested Andrei Usachev on February 27, 2025, the case was considered behind closed doors. Fontanka and 78.ru reported that he was detained for the murder of a 43-year-old woman with Down syndrome in the Krasnoselsky district of St. Petersburg.

It was reported that the body of the murdered woman was found on February 24. According to media reports, Usachev lived with his friends next door to the victim. After the rape, he likely pressed the victim's face into the mattress, causing her to suffocate. The victim allegedly had bite marks on his chest and injuries to his genitals. Later, jewelry that belonged to the murdered woman was confiscated from Usachev.

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Andrei Usachev committed murder after escaping from the front in Ukraine. He enlisted for the war from a colony: in 2020, the court sentenced him to 9 years for the murder of an acquaintance, whom the convict inflicted 23 stab wounds on. In 2018, Usachev, who was then 20 years old, was also sentenced to 2 years for robbery.

According to the Sever.Realii source, the convict has state awards, as well as medals from the Wagner PMC.

PMC "Wagner" recruited prisoners from Russian colonies for the war after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Subsequently, the Ministry of Defense began to do this. Russian authorities have passed a law according to which a defendant in a criminal case can sign a contract to participate in war at any stage of the investigation and after the verdict. The proceedings in the case are suspended, and in the future they may be closed due to non-rehabilitative circumstances, that is, without the right to demand compensation from the state for illegal persecution.

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