Vyacheslav Matrosov, 35, was convicted of ‘inciting a person to commit suicide’ after he forced Oleg Sviridov, 32, to dig his own grave and then persuaded him to kill himself
In a chilling act of vigilante justice, Vyacheslav Matrosov, 35, a Russian father, compelled a man who sexually abused a six-year-old child to dig his own grave in a forest before convincing him to take his own life. Matrosov took the law into his own hands after he found footage of the young child being forced into sexual acts by Oleg Sviridov, 32, who was once a trusted friend and babysitter to Matrosov’s family.
The distressing video captured the child’s desperate cries: “Oleg, that’s enough, I can’t take it anymore. I want to go home.”
The deadly encounter between Matrosov and Sviridov ended with Sviridov’s demise. Initially accused of murder, Matrosov was later found not guilty as investigations showed Sviridov inflicted the fatal wounds on himself.
In 2022, Matrosov was sentenced to an 18-month term in a strict regime penal colony but served only 12 months before being released. Public opinion in Russia largely supported Matrosov after details emerged of how he made the molester dig his own final resting place.
After regaining his freedom, Matrosov shared a photo on social media captioned: “Home. Love very much,” reports the Mirror US.
He was convicted by the Krasnoglinsky Court in Samara for “inciting” Sviridov “to suicide” resulting in his prison sentence.
Had Matrosov been found guilty of murder, the ex-rocket engine factory worker might have been looking at a 15-year stretch in jail. The Samara region’s community has thrown its weight behind Matrosov following his involvement in the slaying of convicted paedophile Sviridov, catapulting the case into the international spotlight.
Folks in Pribrezhnoye are digging deep to cover Matrosov’s legal fees. A petition with a hefty 2,500 names is demanding his freedom, while locals hail him as a hero for “saving our children by ridding us of a child sex attacker.”
TV celeb and former Russian presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak has weighed in, saying: “All parents are standing up for the paedophile’s killer.”
