From cannibal to combatant. The shocking path to freedom for Russia's prisoners

Russians have been conducting a war for over two years, and no one is surprised anymore that Vladimir Putin's army is reaching for prisoners serving sentences. Fighting on the front gives them a chance to leave their cells earlier. However, the case of Dmitry Malyshev is extraordinary. The Russian was released from prison, although he killed and ate the heart of his victim.

Dmitry Malyshev made headlines in Moscow ten years ago. He became well-known for killing a Tajik who had come to Russia for work. The Russian not only murdered the newcomer but also cut out his heart from his body and then ate it. He was sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment for it. The Russians also proved he committed other crimes.

Malyshev is no longer serving his sentence. Belsat TV reports that journalists from Volgograd, a Russian city near Ukraine, found him on the war front. To verify the Russian's identity, they checked his social media accounts. It turns out that the cannibal happily posts pictures of himself in uniform. In some photos, he is accompanied by a friend, Alexander Maslennikov.

Malyshev and Maslennikov met in the penal colony. His companion had also been sentenced there for murder. The war in Ukraine became his ticket to freedom.

According to Russian media, Malyshev is currently in the hospital. The cannibal was wounded in the fighting on the front in Ukraine.

Malyshev is not the first, and most likely not the last, murderer fighting in the Russian army in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the full-scale regime, Putin's forces have been looking in prisons and penal colonies for volunteers to go to the front. The Wagner Group, in particular, has willingly searched for mercenaries in such places, offering convicts money and a reduction in their sentence in exchange for joining the fight.