The key facts
- Serial killer Alexander Gerashchenko sought through the courts a transfer from Polar Owl to a colony in Perm Krai
- His main argument was the condition of his elderly mother, who cannot travel for visits because of the distance
- The court refused: the convict provided no information about exceptional circumstances
Transfer denied
Serial killer Alexander Gerashchenko, serving a life sentence in the special-regime colony Polar Owl in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, tried through the courts to obtain a transfer to a correctional facility in Perm Krai, where his relatives live. A court in the YaNAO denied his claim — this is evidenced by court documents obtained by RIA Novosti, as reported by Life.ru.
The convict's arguments and the court's decision
Gerashchenko's main argument was the condition of his elderly mother: according to him, the woman cannot travel to visit him because of the long distance, which, in his view, violates his right to personal and family life. The court found no grounds for a transfer: the case files state that the convict did not provide information about exceptional circumstances that would prevent him from continuing to serve his sentence in his current colony.
What Gerashchenko was convicted for
According to investigators, from 1998 to 2006 Gerashchenko attacked servicemen, employees of paramilitary enterprise security units, and police officers in Perm Krai; one of the goals of the crimes was to obtain firearms. In November 2008, the Perm Krai Court sentenced him to life imprisonment, finding him guilty of seven murders, attempted murder, theft of weapons, and other crimes.
Similar attempts by other convicts
This is not the only case of a life-sentenced convict trying to change his place of confinement through the courts. Life.ru previously reported on a similar attempt by the Bitsevsky Maniac Alexander Pichushkin: in September, the Supreme Court of Russia refused to accept his complaint for consideration, and before that his demands had been rejected by a district court as well as the appellate and cassation instances. The fate of Gerashchenko's complaints against the denial, judging by the published materials, has not yet been reported.
