A courageous woman recounted in court the horror attack she endured when her ex-boyfriend staged a brutal crucifixion, nailing her to a wooden plank and setting her on fire.
Oksana Kuzmenko, a recruitment manager, suffered severe injuries in the brutal attack , with her body "lighting up like a candle." Her appearance has been permanently altered due to the torture. Oleg Shchegolikhin, 33, a welder, was sentenced to 12 years in a strict regime penal colony by a Russian court for attempted murder with "extreme cruelty." However, because he has volunteered to fight in Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine, he is unlikely to serve much time in prison.
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Ms. Kuzmenko, 40, testified that Shchegolikhin threatened to kill her in the car repair workshop where he worked in Yekaterinburg. He set her on fire after nailing one of her legs to a wooden plank and using a corkscrew-like tool on her other leg. He extinguished the flames, but not before she sustained serious burns.
Shchegolikhin then forced the injured woman to drive him to the city of Asbest. Fearing he would kill her and hide her body in a forest, she deliberately crashed the car into another vehicle, an act the court heard likely saved her life. Shchegolikhin fled the scene as police arrived.
Ms. Kuzmenko told officers about the horrific attack, which followed an hour-long beating. Police found her in a "terrible condition" leaving her upper limbs "burnt to a crisp," respiratory tract, neck, face, and buttocks, along with wounds from the nail and corkscrew. She was in a "grave" condition in the hospital.
In court, she described the torture: "He took off my boots, nailed my left leg, and twisted a sharp object into my right leg. He said he would kill me... He gave me until 4am... He lit me up like a candle and watched me burn, only then extinguishing the fire."
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The attack occurred after she told Shchegolikhin she wanted to end their relationship. She revealed that he had hidden his criminal past, which included convictions for hijacking, theft, battery, and drink driving. His lawyer, Olga Polishchuk, stated after the trial that he would appeal the conviction, claiming he "never intended to kill her."
Polishchuk added that Shchegolikhin professed to love Kuzmenko during interrogations and court proceedings. He plans to appeal the attempted murder conviction while also applying for a pardon scheme, which would allow him to receive clemency from Putin after serving six months in the war, supposedly to make amends to her.
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