Vyacheslav M: Father who killed daughter's rapist gets legal fees crowdfunded
SAMARA, RUSSSIA: Less than a week after a Russian dad allegedly killed his best friend for raping his daughter, reports emerge that local supporters have paid all his legal fees and believe he should be punished for the crime. Identified as just Vyacheslav M., the man was reportedly drinking with his longtime pal Oleg Sviridov when he found videos of the alleged attacks on his eight-year-old daughter on the latter's mobile phone. Vyacheslav is currently under house arrest in Pribrezhnoye after he admitted to fatally stabbing his one-time friend in nearby woods where police had found the body later.
News of this comes less than a month after a teenage accomplice filmed 40-year-old Sergio Hernandez raping an intellectually challenged teen while she was drugged and unconscious. The videos were posted to Snapchat and ultimately saw the attackers charged with pornography and concealment of death charges. In Vyacheslav's case, after he came across the videos of the attack on his daughter, now nine, he confronted Sviridov, who then fled. Vyacheslav then reported the rapes to the police before launching his own search, finding the alleged pedophile and starving him to death.
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Vyacheslav had been arrested since he confessed to killing Sviridov, but he has also been let out on bail since. East2West news agency reports that the 34-year-old rocket engine factory worker currently has the support of more than 1,100 locals, who have signed a petition demanding all charges be dropped against him. Vyacheslav also claimed that Sviridov's phone contained videos of his raping his daughter and other local kids as young as six and 11 years. Locals however have dubbed the father a hero as they contributed to a fundraiser to help get him legal aid.
“We have collected the money, thank you all,” Vyachelsav’s father said in an update according to the agency. “It was not friends or relatives who helped, but strangers from the village.” Supporters also told the outlet that locals have been “united” in wanting Vyacheslav freed and acquitted because “he saved our kids from potential pedophile abuse.” As authorities claim, the father will still face a term of imprisonment, other locals told the outlet: "He is not a murderer - he protected his daughter and our children too. Everyone is on his side.”
Prominent TV journalist and former Russian presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak also shared with her followers: “All parents are standing up for the paedophile’s killer.” And as abuse investigation into child abuse continues, Lawyer Vera Podkolzina said proving Sviridov’s guilt from the video will be critical to the case. “It is difficult to say what punishment the father of the girl may face, but he has very powerful mitigating circumstances,” she said.
Among the most shocking bits of the story is the fact that Sviridov, 32, was the godfather of Vyacheslav's little girl and had looked after her all by himself on multiple occasions. His body was found near the Vintai village in Samara, Russian, on Thursday, more than a week after Vyacheslav had come across the harrowing video. When he confessed to the crime, Vyacheslav claimed he had “stumbled on the knife during a quarrel” in a forest near the village where Sviridov's body was found. The distraught father is currently out for two months as further investigation continues into the case.
Vyacheslav's release comes largely in lieu of the massive public support he has received from locals in Vintai who protested against charges being brought upon the father. Sviridov's mother also confirmed her son's fondness for Vyacheslav's children, saying: “I don’t know how it got to this. He must have been drunk. Most likely he was drunk. They left their children with him all the time. When he was baby-sat these girls he came back home as normal, in a good mood.”