A court in the Republic of Komi has sentenced a 52-year-old foreign national to nine and a half years in a maximum-security penal colony for attempting to rape a 12-year-old girl 31 years ago.
The defendant was convicted of attempted rape of a minor combined with a threat of murder, the regional management of the Investigative Committee of Russia told the Lenta.ru news outlet.
Investigators and the court established that the offense took place in January 1995 inside a residential apartment. The man threatened the daughter of an acquaintance and attempted to assault her, but the 12-year-old victim managed to offer resistance.
Her younger brother woke up from the girl's screams during the attack. To stop the children from shouting, the assailant struck both of them on the head and body with a light fixture before breaking a glass window and jumping out from the second floor.
Arrest in Saint Petersburg
Following his escape from the second-floor window, authorities placed the foreign national on an official wanted list. Information about his location only surfaced years later when law enforcement officers tracked him to Saint Petersburg, where he was detained.
In Russia, a maximum-security penal colony operates under a strict regime reserved for convicts found guilty of grave crimes. Inmates in strict-regime colonies are subject to close supervision, restricted movement, and structured daily schedules.
Regional context and investigation
The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation is the country's main federal law enforcement agency tasked with investigating serious criminal offenses, including violent crimes committed against minors. Its regional authorities handle both active investigations and cold cases.
The Republic of Komi is a federal region in north-western Russia located to the west of the Ural Mountains, with Syktyvkar serving as its administrative center. Saint Petersburg is Russia's second-largest city and a major urban hub on the Baltic Sea.
Russian investigative authorities continue to track down wanted suspects in long-standing criminal cases across the country. In a separate proceeding reported by authorities, a court in Tyumen Oblast previously convicted a man for the rape of a minor.
