Mark Konkov, 17, has just received a  nine-year jail sentence for stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death in an “especially cruel” murder.
Showing no apparent remorse, the teen charged with slashing his victim, Karina Zalesova, in the face and throat 25 times, even admitted to murder when he appeared in court.
The sentence came after an unprecedented public campaign to ensure justice amid fears the crime would be ‘go away’ because the youth comes from an influential family in Siberia.
As he was sentenced his angry parents issued an astonishing courtroom attack on the victim, claiming she brought her fate on herself. Being from a lower social class, she should not have been mixing with their son.

Mark Konkov told the court he just killed the teen girl

Konkov’s father, construction magnet Igor Konkov, from Novosibirsk, even disputed the court finding that the killing was a “murder of special cruelty”.
A relative of Karina’s, Maria Grebenkina, who attended the closed session court, later told Russian media: ‘At today’s hearing Konkov’s parents finally lost their human face.
‘Konkov’s mother, Natalia, claimed: ‘Does anybody think that I would allow my son to be close with this girl?
She was not from our social strata. If this girl knew it is not good to come to somebody’s house just like that, she would be alive.’
Commenting on the pomposity of the father, Igor Konkov,  Grebenkina said: ‘The father was outraged, he shouted: ‘There was no special cruelty. I saw her body and she looked normal, she was just dead. We are from different strata, no one invited her to our house, she came by herself.’

Igor Konkov defends his son’s barbaric behavior: ‘There was no special cruelty. I saw her body and she looked normal, she was just dead. We are from different strata, no one invited her to our house, she came by herself.’

Reminded that she came  because his son threatened to commit suicide if she did not appear, he said: ‘Now other girls will know how to feel pity.
She would be alive if she did not come. I believe my son is not guilty.’
The court heard that Mark Konkov had invited his girlfriend Karina to his house in August 2015, threatening to commit suicide if she did not show up. Karina went out without telling her parents where she was going.
They reported her missing to police when her  phone did not answer. Subsequently, it was switched off. Her savagely beaten and slashed body was later found in a house in Novosobirsk with 25 stab wounds. Mark Konkov reportedly beat her with his fists and a wooden figurine before stabbing her.

Mark’s mother Natalia Konkov had no sympathy for her son’s victim: ‘She is from a lower class.Does anybody think that I would allow my son to be close with this girl?’

Mark Konkov is arraigned, sending him to jail was a landmark legal victory against an oligarch

Protesters became involved over fears the crime would be swept under the table when the rich and privileged suspect was placed under house arrest, instead of being taken into custody and detained, following the murder. A fear not unfounded in Russia where the political and money elite can put pressure on both police and the court system.
Protests in Novosibirsk as well as Moscow and St Petersburg led to Konkov being moved to detention. Rallies calling for justice kept the spotlight on the case in the year that followed.
Igor Konkov told the court that his son and his victim had a suicide pact, but that only she died.  However, the argument was countered by forensic evidence of defensive wounds indicating she had defended herself against a vicious attack.
The Siberian Times reported that psychiatric tests indicated the defendant,  suffered from “personality disorders and sadistic inclinations but deemed he was ‘sane’ when he killed Karina”.
The case was reclassified from “murder” to “murder with special cruelty”, carrying a maximum ten year sentence for a 16-year-old.
Mark Konkov eventually agreed to give evidence and rebutted his father’s version of a suicide pact: ‘I just killed her and that’s all,’ he said.”I just killed her and that’s all.”