crime
School shooting: Life imprisonment for gunman
Ambulances and police cars in front of the crime scene (2021): A young man from the Republic of Tatarstan was found guilty of multiple murders and armed robbery, the Russian agency Interfax reported, citing the court. photo
© Roman Kruchinin/AP/dpa
A gunman in Russia, now 21, broke into his former school in May 2021, killing nine people. Now a court has convicted him.
Almost two years after a rampage that killed nine people at a Russian school, the perpetrator has been sentenced to life imprisonment. The 21-year-old from the Republic of Tatarstan was found guilty of multiple murders and armed robbery, the Russian agency Interfax reported on Thursday, citing the court in the city of Kazan.
At the age of 19, the man entered his former high school in May 2021, armed with a hunting rifle and explosives, and opened fire on students and teachers. Seven of the nine dead were minors. In addition, more than 20 people were injured. During the trial, the attacker confessed to his crime, which he had previously announced on the Internet.
In addition to the prison sentence, he was also sentenced to a fine of around 2,200 euros. The court complied with the request of the public prosecutor’s office with the harsh sentence. The defense attorney had instead demanded that his clients be handed over to psychiatric treatment.
In Russia, rampages of this kind are relatively rare, but have increased in recent years. Also in 2021, a law student at a university in the city of Perm shot dead several people. In 2018, an 18-year-old attacked a college in the city of Kerch on the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which had been annexed by Russia since 2014, killing 20 people.