Two Ingushetia residents to stand trial for murder after allegedly stabbing woman almost 600 times
The Saint Petersburg City Court will hear a criminal case against two residents of Ingushetia, accused of murder after allegedly stabbing a woman 581 times.
According to the city prosecutor’s office, on 31 July last year, in an apartment on Krasnoputilovskaya Street, 23-year-old Murat Ganizhev and 21-year-old Abdul-Malik Buzurtanov, while under the influence of drugs, allegedly inflicted at least 581 stab wounds to the head, neck, chest, and limbs of their 25-year-old acquaintance, Elizaveta K. (full name not disclosed in law enforcement materials). The woman died at the scene from acute blood loss.
According to the investigation, the accused individuals and the victim were acquainted. On the day of the murder, they, together with another friend, drank alcohol and used drugs. The third person left the apartment before the conflict began, which was recorded by surveillance cameras. At some point, a conflict arose between the guests and the apartment’s occupant, after which they inflicted multiple stab wounds on the woman. During questioning, they admitted that they acted in an altered state of consciousness.
According to the investigation, Elizaveta began experiencing hallucinations due to substance use. At first, she demanded that the guests leave the apartment, then refused to let them go. Someone began praying, to which she said she was a ‘witch’ and could not tolerate it. The two Ingush men, also under the influence of drugs and alcohol, attacked her with knives in response.
Prosecutors say that Ganizhev and Buzurtanov used three kitchen knives to commit the crime. After the murder, they left the apartment through a window, descended the downpipe, disposed of the washed knives nearby, and left St. Petersburg the same day, returning to Ingushetia.
According to the local media outlet 78.ru, a week later, a neighbour of the deceased contacted the police after noticing a stench from the apartment landing. He also reported that the victim was the mother of a four-year-old child. She had been deprived of parental rights due to regular alcohol and drug use.
The investigation classified the crime as murder committed with particular cruelty by a group of persons acting in prior conspiracy.
Ganizhev was detained in early August last year in the town of Ali-Yurt, and Buzurtanov in Sunzha.
At the hearing to determine the measure of restraint, Ganizhev refused to state his position regarding the charges, but signed documents in court and submitted an application to participate in the special military operation — the term Russia officially uses to describe its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The application has not been accepted yet, and the case remains on the docket. Buzurtanov admitted his guilt in full.
Elizaveta Chukharova
