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‘Every man would do the same’ – Vladimir Sankin

Vladimir Sankin, 34, faces up to 15 years in jail for killing 54-year-old pedophile Vladimir Zaitsev

Auto mechanic Sankin was a passerby when a boy begged him to help his friend in an apt block in Ufa City, Bashkortostan, Russia

The convicted pedophile had ensnared the boy, 14, and told him to strip naked, threatening that he would kill and dismember the teen with an ax if he didn’t comply

Sankin beat Zaitsev with a wooden stick but says he did not intend to kill him

The victim, Vladimir Zaitsev had served sentences of five years, one year and 11 years for previous child sex convictions for ‘sodomy’ and ‘violent sexual acts’

Support for Sankin grows in Russia as many believe criminal charges are ‘unfair’ – the petition has gathered over 70,000 signatures

Defense lawyers are hoping that “the court will assess …the mitigating circumstances; the immoral behavior of the ‘victim’, which was the reason for committing the crime”

A auto mechanic in the Russian city of Ufa has gone on trial for killing a convicted pedophile after saving a 14-year-old boy from his clutches.
Vladimir Sankin, 34, faces up to 15 years jail if convicted, despite an outcry in Russia where a petition in his support has been signed by 70,000 people.
He was a passerby when he answered the frantic pleas of a boy, ten, to help his friend, 14, who had been locked inside the apartment of Vladimir Zaitsev, 54, in Ufa City, Bashkortostan, Russia
The homeowner was a serial predator who was recently released from jail after another conviction for sex attacks on children.

Zaitsev had been jailed three times previously for attacks on underage children, including his own son.
Sankin says he ran to the apartment and heard the boy crying inside.
He forced his way in and freed the unnamed teenager who had been told by the man to strip naked under the threat of being killed and dismembered with an ax if he refused.
After freeing the boy and reuniting him with his friend, Sankin took the man outside and beat him with a wooden stick as he waited for police to arrive.
The pedophile had met the boys in the entrance to his apartment where they were trying to warm up after playing for several hours in the snow.
He lured them into his apartment to “dry their wet clothes”.
But once inside he told them to undress and allegedly began to “harass” them until one of the boys escaped and found Sankin.

In the course of the beating Zaitsev fell and banged his head. He suffered injuries from which he later died.
Sankin was formally detained and accused of ‘intentional infliction of grave bodily harm resulting in the death of the victim by negligence’.
‘I didn’t expect him to die at all,’ said Sankin. Adding, ‘I saved two children… from him.’
Sankin faces up to 15 years jail if convicted.
The trial of the ‘rescuer’ has created public outcry in Russia where a petition in his support has been signed by 70,000 people.Sankin has been under house arrest since February but now faces an attempt by state prosecutors to jail him for up to 15 years.
‘I didn’t expect him to die at all,’ said Sankin. Adding, ‘I saved two children… from him.’
In a video ahead of his trial, he thanks supporters for backing him, and claimed any man would have acted the same way.

‘I could not do otherwise in that situation,’ he said.
‘I had a choice – to pass by or to save the kids. Surely every man would do the same in my place.’
His lawyer said: “We hope the court will assess this because there mitigating circumstances; the immoral behavior of the ‘victim’, which was the reason for committing the crime.”
Defense attorney Shota Gorgadze said Sankin was ‘a simple guy who could not pass by a pedophile and protected children from this rapist.
He said, ‘the earth depends on such ordinary men’, adding that the charges against his client were ‘unfair’.
He vowed: ‘We will prove that such men should be rewarded, not imprisoned.’
“We hope the court will assess this because there mitigating circumstances; the immoral behavior of the ‘victim’, which was the reason for committing the crime,” Gorgadze said.

Sankin’s mother Galina Sankina said: ‘My son did the right thing…
‘I would do the same, scold me or not.’
Well-known surgeon Yevgeny Ionis also backed Sankin’s actions, saying he acted on ‘reflex’ to save the boy and his friend, and he would have done the same.
He said: ‘I am not calling for breaking the law.
‘But… I am the father of three children. And in all children I see a reflection of my own.’
Sankin’s wife Polina Naumova said: ‘I’m entirely on his side for not walking out [on the boys] because no-one knows what would have happened next if he turned a blind eye.’
Others have called on him to be awarded for bravery.
Sankin’s friend Roman said: “He is a good guy.
“He has paid for his kindness with his liberty.”
However others have called it a “lynching” and said that he should be prosecuted for the killing.
The victim, Vladimir Zaitsev had served sentences of five years, one year and 11 years for previous child sex convictions for ‘sodomy’ and ‘violent sexual acts’.