Nikolai Ogolobyak, sentenced in 2010 to a 20-year prison term for the ritualistic murder of four teenagers in Russia's Yaroslavl region, has been released early following his participation in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Ogolobyak's father confirmed his release to local news outlet 76.ru, stating that Nikolai had served in the Storm Z unit, comprised mostly of former prisoners, for six months.
Ogolobyak sustained serious injuries during the conflict and is now considered disabled.
He returned from the war on November 2 and currently resides in Yaroslavl’s Dzerzhinsky district with his mother. His father has denied reports of Nikolai being seen intoxicated and wandering in a different district.
In 2008, Ogolobyak, then a teenager, joined a Satanist gang founded by 15-year-old Konstantin Baranov.
The group, which performed bloody rituals and animal sacrifices, was responsible for the brutal murders of four other teenagers - Olga Pukhova, Anna Gorokhova, Varvara Kuzmina, and Andrey Solovyov. The victims' bodies were gruesomely dismembered, and ritualistic acts were performed on them.
The Yaroslavl court sentenced the gang members in 2010, with Ogolobyak receiving the longest sentence due to the severity of his crimes.
He was found guilty of murdering multiple people and desecrating the bodies of the dead. His early release, tied to his military service in Ukraine, has raised concerns and highlighted the complexities of Russia's recruitment practices during the ongoing conflict.
