Belarusian criminal signed up for the front to avoid expulsion from Russia. But eventually got 11 years for murder

In 2022, Belarusian citizen Aliaksandr Harankou received a sentence in Russia for robbery. After his release, he faced deportation from the country. To avoid it, he signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense. However, he never made it to the front — instead, the Belarusian settled in someone else's apartment in Belgorod, where a few months later he beat a man to death and received a new sentence, this time for 11 years in a strict regime colony.

In November 2022, the Lefortovo District Court of Moscow found Harankou guilty of robbery (Part 1, Article 162 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and gave him three years in a general regime colony. He served his sentence in a penal colony in Vladimir. In October 2024, he was released.

While still in the colony, Harankou met a man who promised to help him with employment and housing in Belgorod. In November 2024, he moved there, settling in an apartment belonging to his new acquaintance's friend. The condition was simple: instead of paying rent, the Belarusian performed cosmetic repairs in the apartment.

Since Harankou is a citizen of Belarus, he faced deportation after his release. To prevent him from evading expulsion, the police sought a court order to place him in a special institution for foreigners.

But before the case was heard, Harankou managed to sign a one-year contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense for military service. And if a person enters contract service, they cannot be held in custody.

However, as it turned out later, "going into service" did not yet mean "going to the front." As late as February 2025 – three months after the court halted his deportation thanks to the contract – Harankou was still in Belgorod, gathering documents for signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense and doing repairs in the apartment.

On the evening of March 22, 2025, Harankou was painting a window frame in the apartment when he noticed a man passing by. He offered him a drink. The future victim, a middle-aged, married man with no criminal record, who, as his daughter later described him, was "caring and conflict-free," agreed.

After drinking about a liter of vodka in the kitchen, Harankou suggested his companion wash himself and his dirty clothes. When the man undressed, the Belarusian saw compression stockings on his drinking buddy's legs — the man wore them due to vein problems in his legs, which made it difficult for him to move. Harankou decided he was homosexual, so he attacked the victim and began to beat him: first with his fists to the head, then, when he fell, with his feet to the torso, arms, and legs. In total, he inflicted no less than 23 blows. When the victim fell silent, Harankou calmed down, drank more vodka, and fell asleep.

In the morning, he realized the guest was dead. He cleaned up the bloodstains in the apartment, gathered the victim's belongings, and threw them into a trash container. Then he bought two large bags, attempting to carry the body outside — he couldn't, as the corpse was too heavy. On March 25, he packed his things and traveled first to Kursk, then to Oryol — heading, as his acquaintance later told the investigation, towards Belarus. On March 28, at the Bryansk railway station, already near the Belarusian border, he was detained by police officers. Harankou immediately confessed to the murder.

As it was later revealed by forensic examination, death did not occur immediately: the victim died from traumatic shock caused by a broken sternum and multiple rib fractures on both sides, somewhere between the evening of March 22 and the night of March 24 — meaning, possibly, after Harankou had already left the apartment and departed.

The body was found only on the evening of March 25, when the apartment owner, at the request of the police (who were looking for the man after his daughter reported her father missing), opened the door with his own key.

The Oktyabrsky District Court of Belgorod sentenced Harankou to 11 years in a strict regime colony. He must also pay about $10,000 in compensation for moral damages to the victim's daughter.

• 3
• 0
• 1
• 3
• 2
• 0
• 2
• 0