Court Sentences Military Serviceman in AWOL to Life Imprisonment for the Murder of Odesa Activist Demyan Hanul
The Prymorsky District Court of the city of Odesa found a serviceman from Kyiv region guilty in the case of the murder of activist Demyan Hanul and sentenced him to the harshest punishment — life imprisonment with confiscation of property and deprivation of military rank. This was reported by the police.
According to the investigation, the murder was committed on March 14, 2025, in the center of Odesa. The serviceman in AWOL, Serhiy Shalayev, fired several shots at Demyan Hanul, then made a final shot to the head and left the crime scene.
A special investigative group was created for the investigation involving the Main Investigative Department of the National Police and the Odesa police. Together with the Security Service of Ukraine, the suspect — a 46-year-old serviceman from Kyiv region — was detained within a few hours.
The court chose detention as a preventive measure for him.
The investigation established that the attacker acted on order. He went on annual leave, rented two apartments in Odesa, illegally acquired firearms, ammunition, and grenades, which he stored in temporary housing. Since he did not manage to complete the order within the set time, he did not return to the military unit on time.
He was charged under three articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: premeditated murder committed on order and for mercenary motives (paragraphs 6, 11 of part 2 of article 115), illegal handling of weapons (part 1 of article 263), as well as unauthorized abandonment of service under martial law conditions (part 5 of article 407).
The indictment was sent to court, which, after examining the evidence, found the accused guilty on all counts.
The verdict has not yet come into legal force and can be appealed within 30 days.
It should be noted that Demyan Hanul was an Odesa public figure, blogger, activist, participant in the Revolution of Dignity and the May 2 confrontation in Odesa.
As reported by the "Judicial and Legal Newspaper", in March 2025 in Odesa activist Demyan Hanul was shot dead.
The suspect in the murder was detained the same day. He turned out to be a serviceman in AWOL, 46-year-old Serhiy Shalayev. It later became known that he served in the 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after the Knights of the Winter Campaign.
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