Somewhere with poison: will the Balashikha poisoner be able to achieve a reduced sentence

Balashikha poisoner Artyom Missyura, who is accused of murdering two people and other crimes, is unlikely to escape harsh punishment, experts interviewed by Izvestia believe. It is highly likely that the court will give him a life sentence or at least 24 years in a penal colony. The defense asks to commute the sentence, insisting that the defendant committed the murders unintentionally. However, according to investigators, Missyura systematically poisoned his loved ones with chemicals in order to solve his financial problems. As a result, his best friend and grandmother died, and other victims managed to save their lives. The details of the case are in the Izvestia article.

What was the life sentence for?

On July 8, the debate of the parties ended in the high-profile case of the poisoner Artyom Missyura, accused of murdering his grandmother and best friend Konstantin Kaminsky, as well as attempted murders of seven more people and major fraud. At the last hearing, given the cynicism of the crimes, the prosecution requested a life sentence for Missura.

The investigation found that Artyom Missyura had been mixing dangerous chemicals into his family's food and drinks for six months.
So, in January 2024, after an alcoholic cocktail laced with poison, his girlfriend Kristina Dudkina was hospitalized and miraculously survived. While she was in a coma, Missyura applied for loans in her name for 574 thousand rubles through banking applications to solve his money problems (the accused accumulated debts and micro-loans in the amount of about three million rubles).

During the preliminary investigation, the young man stated that the first poisoning was an experiment, as Missyura was checking the correct dosage of the poison. But at the trial, the poisoner indicated a completely different reason: allegedly, he wanted to send his girlfriend to the hospital for a while so that he could be alone and establish a relationship with his mother.

In February of the same year, Missyura, according to investigators, treated his best friend Konstantin Kaminsky to poisoned berry juice when the two of them were sitting in a parked car. This time, the dose was lethal. As a result, Konstantin died in the hospital two days later. The investigation believes that Artyom committed the murder out of envy for the successes of Kaminsky, who worked in law enforcement agencies. The defendant himself stated that his friend's death was an accident, and Morse was intended for his stepfather, whom he allegedly also did not want to kill. His stepfather was another person who prevented him from talking to his mother, Missyura said during the interrogation.

The accused regularly put chemicals in food in his parents' apartment when no one was at home, and brought poisoned gifts to his uncle and grandmother. His relatives were feeling unwell and turned to doctors, who threw up their hands and could not understand the reason.

Missyura's grandmother was taken away by ambulance after she tried the arbidol brought by her grandson, but then she was saved. However, in April 2024, she was hospitalized for the second time with severe poisoning after she tasted the pie that Artyom brought. An elderly woman died in the hospital.

Missyura explained in court that he had planned to steal jewelry stored in his grandmother's apartment and wanted no one at home.

His girlfriend's brother, Ilya, to whom Artyom owed money, was treated to a poisoned crab roll for Easter. The man tried it with his friend. Both became ill, Ilya's friend needed hospitalization.

Missyura's stepfather and mother became suspicious and installed cameras at their home. When the poisoner once again came to the parents' apartment and put poison in the food, they contacted the police, providing a video recording.

Protection position

At the beginning of the hearing, the judge gave the floor to the accused. Missyura read out his speech from the sheet clearly and without hesitation. He asked that all mitigating circumstances be taken into account and that he not be sentenced to life in prison. According to the defendant, he did not conceal the facts and assisted the investigation, sincerely repents and admits his guilt.

Missyura drew the court's attention to the fact that after poisoning his girlfriend, he called an ambulance twice himself, and later took care of Kristina and paid for her treatment.

Regarding Konstantin Kaminsky's death, the poisoner stated that he did not feel envy for him and did not want him to die, but he was to blame for "not telling his father what Kostya had drunk, fearing exposure." Missyura stressed that the bottle of poison fell into the hands of his best friend because of his carelessness and frivolity.

In the episode with his grandmother, Missyura said that he neglected the fact that she was an older person and did not think that she could die, and not just go to the hospital. The accused admitted that he had neglected the safety of his mother and sister, wanting to poison his stepfather, and they had become unintended victims.

Defense lawyer Denis Companeets added that his client's actions should be considered as causing death by negligence due to the lack of intent to commit murder in all sane episodes.

However, the state prosecutor did not agree with these arguments.

— The defense is lying when it says that Missyura fully admitted his guilt. He denies intent to murder, but as a result, we have two corpses and several more people who were taken to the hospital. Dudkina ended up in intensive care and almost died," the prosecutor said.

Missyura said that for what he had done, he deserved "a punishment that does not even exist."

"I ask you to commute your sentence so that when you get out, you can do something worthy in your life," he explained to the court.

What is the threat to Missyura

According to Denis Companeits, Missyura's lawyer, the main difficulty of the case is related to procedural errors made at the stage of the preliminary investigation. This weakened the positions of both the prosecution and the defense, since direct intent to murder, an element mandatory for such an accusation, was not established.

"The prosecution has not gathered a convincing evidence base, but the defendant is still charged with murder and attempted murder," the defense attorney said.

The risk of imposing the maximum penalty does not seem so far-fetched, given the severity of the charges and the partial admission of guilt, said lawyer Alexander Karavaev.

— Direct intent is what precedes the commission of a murder. If the defendant admits the circumstances of the incident, but does not admit the existence of such an intention, the court may regard this as non—recognition of the main element of the charge," Karavaev explained.

According to lawyer Vitaly Kasparov, the severity of the crime and a partial admission of guilt by Missura can lead to severe punishment — life in prison or at least 24 years in prison.