Women are in agony after a brutal killer returned to his hometown and was pardoned by Vladimir Putin for fighting in the war against Ukraine.
Ex-police officer Vadim Tekhov, 33, was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2021 for killing his ex-wife in a frenzied attack with a knife.
Horrific CCTV footage shocked Russia, showing him repeatedly stabbing 22-year-old Regina Gagieva in her office.
She died of 15 kitchen knife wounds – but Putin’s officials released him from prison early in his sentence and sent him off to war.
Then the dictator forgave him and released him after six months at the front – one of thousands of murderers unlocked from Russian prisons to fight in the war.
Regina Gagieva (pictured), 22, was stabbed to death in her office in 2021 by ex-police officer Vadim Tekhov, 33
Tekhov was sentenced to 16 years in prison, but is now pardoned by Vladimir Putin for fighting in the war against Ukraine
Now his ex-wife Roxana Zaseeva’s sister has seen him wandering the streets eating a shawarma in the Russian city of Vladikavkaz – where he killed Regina.
She said, “The damp earth should devour him, but he walks quietly on the sidewalk and eats.
“At the moment several lives are in danger.
‘Do our penitentiary services not understand this?
“Are they waiting for another kill?
“Do you think if he comes to my house, it will be possible to just talk to him?”
She says she feels she needs to leave town, but warned that other women are in danger from the killer who stalked her sister before killing her.
CCTV footage shows Tekhov repeatedly stabbing his ex-wife
She died in hospital after suffering 15 kitchen knife wounds
The top official in Russia’s North Ossetia region has criticized the decision to release Tekhov, but said he was powerless because of Putin’s law to entice convicts to fight by swearing to pardon them after six months.
Sergei Menyailo said, “I wouldn’t have done that.
“But we all live under the law.
“So we can’t intervene in this situation.”
Tekhov was even allowed to go home despite being briefly detained for allegedly trying to sell drugs to Putin’s troops.
Menyailo vowed that the brutal killer would not receive a medal from the region for bravery.
He said, ‘If I were him – God forbid – I wouldn’t come back.
‘Sometimes there are questions that are difficult to answer.
“They are beyond our authority, beyond the ethical and moral standards.
“Unfortunately, sometimes life dictates slightly different circumstances.”
Tekhov fought in a regular army unit that has followed the lead of the pro-Putin mercenary Wagner in recruiting convicts
Tekhov fought in a regular army unit that has followed the example of the pro-Putin mercenary Wagner in recruiting convicts.
A video released by state detectives shows Tekhov brandishing a knife as he demanded to see his ex-wife’s iPhone, suspecting her of starting a new relationship.
The mother-of-one refused and he savagely attacked her, sustaining fatal injuries and dying in hospital.
Regina’s mother Zema said, ‘He was jealous all the time.
‘He told [my daughter]: ‘If you are not with me, you are with no one.
“Stay with me or I’ll kill you.”
The victim’s sister said, “If it were up to me, I’d sentence him to shoot.”
She went to prison officials about his release.
She said, “I wanted to understand how they could release such a killer.
“But they sympathized with me there and said there was nothing they could do.”
Hundreds of mourners attended Regina Gagieva’s funeral in Vladikavkaz.