A Chelyabinsk woman who hid her daughter's body in a sofa was cleared of murder charges

A court in Chelyabinsk sentenced the mother of a girl found in a sofa to 1.5 years of restriction of freedom. The Chelyabinsk Regional Court sentenced a resident of Bashkiria, Elvira Zagidullina, in the case of the death of her five-year-old daughter, whose body was found in the sofa of a rented apartment in the fall of 2025. This was reported to Izvestia by a source closely familiar with the case.

Initially, the woman was accused of murdering her daughter, as traces resembling stab wounds were found on her body. However, by the time the girl's body was discovered, it was in too late a stage of decomposition, which is why it was not possible to determine the exact cause of death. The suspect's sentence was later commuted.

According to the source, the woman was found guilty under Part 1 of Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Causing death by negligence"). The court sentenced her to one and a half years of restriction of freedom.

The convicted person is prohibited from changing her place of residence without notifying the regulatory authorities. In addition, she is required to report to the police twice a month.

The tragedy in Balashikha: the brutal murder of a child

The decapitated body of a child was found on the balcony in the mother's apartment

The body of a five-year-old girl was found on November 3 last year in the sofa of an apartment in Chelyabinsk. It was clarified that the child was found with stab wounds. A criminal case was opened on this fact. The next day, a woman suspected of murdering her five-year-old daughter was arrested.

On November 5, the Kalininsky District Court of Chelyabinsk detained a 43-year-old woman. Before the start of the trial, the accused, answering a question from journalists, claimed that she had not committed the murder, after which she burst into tears.