Who is Stas Reeflay? YouTuber jailed for streaming pregnant girlfriend’s death as users pay to see her abuse
A YouTuber from Russia has been put behind bars for six years after he live-streamed his pregnant girlfriend’s death. Stas Reeflay, whose real name is Stanislav Reshetnyak, was paid by his viewers to carry out the cruel act. Reeflay reportedly received $1,000 (£800) from a viewer to abuse his girlfriend. The 30-year-old first beat Valentina Grigoryeva and then locked her out on a balcony in sub-zero weather. The victim was just wearing her underwear at the time.
The disturbing incident happened on the night of December 2, 2020, near Moscow. Paramedics arrived at the scene and declared the 28-year-old Grigoryeva dead as thousands of viewers were watching online. Later, Russian law enforcement said she died of “appalling and multiple head injuries” and not from exposure to cold, as earlier assumed.
Olga Vrady, an official with the Russian Investigative Committee, said an autopsy found that Grigoryeva’s cause of death was “craniocerebral trauma”. She also sustained “multiple bruising on the face and hemorrhaging of soft tissues”. A law enforcement source told a daily Russian tabloid, Komsomolskaya Pravda: “[Reeflay] testified that on the day in question he hit the deceased several times on the head. He admits the fact of beating her.”
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YouTuber Stas Reeflay's pregnant lover died of 'appalling' head injuries NOT from exposure to cold as previously thought
On Tuesday, April 27, the Moscow region’s Ramensky City Court database stated that a judge convicted Reeflay of involuntary manslaughter. It has been said that the guilty will be shifted to a maximum-security prison colony. Earlier, he was being remanded in custody in a detention center in Moscow.
He had also called the deceased woman his “best friend.” “Valya was my best friend. Very kind and loyal. She was so talented. On my streams, they called her Genius. She was an actress who graduated with honors,” he had said before adding: “She truly wanted a real relationship. But I couldn't be with her. You see, she was a prostitute. I didn't want a relationship with a girl like that.”
It has not yet been clear if Reeflay’s lawyer is planning to appeal his sentence. Previously in December 2020, after his arrest, Evgeny Kulagin, had noted, “We have already appealed against the arrest order. And we will continue to insist on his innocence.”
Grigoryeva’s tragic death presented a very disturbing online culture in Russia called “trash-streaming” where streamers take money from their viewers to stream violent and humiliating acts. For example, a case came to light in which Russian YouTubers buried alive a homeless man and in another, slammed a woman’s face against a restaurant table.
In February 2021, Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, expressed his distress over the online trend. “It’s absolutely obvious that we must react. We’ll consider a bill as soon as it is tabled,” he added. Feminist activist Liza Lazerson also lashed out at YouTube earlier. She said, “The woman dies on air - and the audience sends donations to the killer. This must stop. Such videos are calmly broadcast to the whole world, meaning something is broken. Until this is fixed, censorship is necessary.”