Quiet Ural Schoolgirl Victimized by Darknet Enforcers
An attempted murder case is under investigation in Yekaterinburg. Two teenagers forced a schoolgirl to undress, kneel, and began «punishing» her while filming: the victim was beaten with feet and sticks, her fingers broken, letters were carved into her back with a knife, and she was ordered to apologize. We recount how this story developed.
«I Beg You, Forgive Me!»
The assault on the 17-year-old schoolgirl from Pervouralsk was carried out on the evening of 5 November in a park at Malysheva Street, 30b.
In the full video (available to the E1.RU editorial office), a young man approaches the girl and knocks her down with a punch, then continues beating her as she lies on the ground, using his hands and feet. A second person films the entire time. The girl cries and tries to shield herself with her hands. She is told: «Don»t scream!« They threaten her with a utility knife.
Then she is forced to undress completely and kneel.
«Why did you scam the shop?» — the young man asks her.
«I really didn»t scam it,« — the girl replies.
After this, the girl is kicked hard in the face, she falls onto her back and clutches her face. They continue kicking her. It is difficult to watch these scenes.
«Did you scam the shop? Where»s the weight?« — the torturers repeat.
«I beg you, forgive me, I don»t know,« — the girl practically whimpers.
They beat her with sticks and carve the letters D and K on her back with a utility knife — the initials of the drug shop. Then they force her to kneel and apologize.
«I apologize to the entire DK and to Pablo Escobar for taking the weight. I will never do it again,» — the crying victim says.
But the abuse does not end there. The tormentors begin breaking her fingers, kicking her in the head, and hitting her with a stick. The girl stands on her knees in blood and continues apologizing to DK. She says she does not know where the weight is. She is hit on the head and face with a stick.
«Where»s the weight? Where«s the weight, bitch?» — the young man repeats.
«I don»t know,« — the girl says.
They start hitting her with a bottle. She cries and screams.
«Quiet, don»t scream,« — the attacker repeats.
The girl shrieks from the blows, covers her face, and says she will work off the money. But this does not calm the enforcers. They continue to beat her, stomp on her head, hit her face with hands and feet, and demand apologies. When the victim gets up from the snow, it is covered in blood, as is the girl«s face.
The girl tries to shield herself, curls into a ball, but the young man who is not filming approaches and punches her in the face with full force. Then he demands apologies again. This repeats several times. By the end of the ordeal, the victim«s face is a bloody mask.
She is hit once more with a stick, then with a stone on her arm and fingers, her hair is cut off, and her hand near the wrist is cut with a knife. At this point, the video stops.
What Is Known About the Victim
The injured schoolgirl made it to the nearest cafe, from where an ambulance was called for her. The team took her to City Clinical Hospital No. 9. Her life is no longer in danger, she is on sick leave.
«Basically, I feel okay, only my fingers are broken,» — the girl noted in a conversation with an E1.RU correspondent. — «I would like them punished, but they are already in a pre-trial detention center in Yekaterinburg.»
The victim lives and studies in Pervouralsk and is raised in a large family. Her mother has six children, five of whom are minors. The likely reason for such a brutal assault is that the girl stole prohibited substances belonging to a local drug shop.
Acquaintances of the teenager said her academic performance is poor. According to them, she has been held back a grade several times. She became involved with the young men who beat her in the video about two and a half months ago, and the video of the abuse was filmed in early November.
«I haven»t seen her use drugs or be under their influence. I don«t even know if she smokes. Most likely, she needed money,» — an acquaintance of the victim said. — «Overall, she is calm and quiet, a pleasant person.»
The schoolgirl«s mother did not answer the phone.
Teenage Enforcers
The police detained both attackers fairly quickly. They turned out to be residents of Berezovsky — 16-year-old Artyom and 17-year-old Vlad. As they are minors, we are not publishing their surnames.
«16-year-old Artyom is from a large family; he has five other brothers and sisters from a different father. His mother is a well-known local activist and psychologist. The family was considered ideal. She often posed with the children for journalists and gave interviews. The boy was interested in computers, wanted to become a programmer, was keen on creating chatbots, promised to earn a lot of money and help his mother,» — a local resident told E1.RU.
According to another source, the teenager had strained relations with his mother; he sought to become independent, earn money, and live separately. It was not possible to reach Artyom«s mother — she did not answer the phone.
The second boy, 17-year-old Vlad, according to E1.RU sources, is from a troubled and poor family and lived in a private housing area.
«Vlad had authority in the neighborhood and possessed leadership qualities. Artyom looked up to him,» — residents say.
After the abuse, the young men left the bloodied victim on the ground and drove away.
«Criminal investigation officers managed to find and thoroughly analyze video recordings from surveillance cameras and track the suspects» route based on descriptions. As a result, on 10 November, the accomplices were detained in the city of Berezovsky, where they lived. During a search, detectives found and seized a phone from one of the detainees containing the very video that was distributed online, with the brutal scenes of abuse of the victim,« — noted Valery Gorelykh, head of the press service of the Sverdlovsk regional police department.
Neither of the boys had been previously convicted. They are now in a pre-trial detention center; the Leninsky District Court arrested them until 9 January. They face up to 10 years in a juvenile colony (the maximum for minors) for attempted murder (Part 3 of Article 30, Part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
What Do the Letters DK Mean?
According to unconfirmed information, the letters DK are the initials of the drug shop Diller Killer, which ordered the attack on the schoolgirl.
For the video of the «punishment» of the errant schoolgirl, the drug shop promised Artyom and Vlad several tens of thousands of rubles (roughly $300–$500 at current rates). The teenagers recorded and sent the footage of the assault, carved the letters DK on the victim«s back with a knife, but never received the money. They were simply scammed.
Here is how this scheme works.
«On an online platform in the darknet, the shop posts an ad saying that people are needed who are ready to resolve an issue with brute force against dealers who have stolen product,» — Alexander, familiar with darknet operational schemes, told E1.RU. — «And those who visit the platform decide whether to take the job or not. Terms are discussed: how severely to beat, what words of apology to record, various abuses. In general, the full spectrum of ordered services is detailed. If the enforcers agree, they leave their passport data, are sent the victim»s contacts and where to find her. The amount depends on the degree of punishment. The harsher — the more they pay.«
Passport data are needed in case the executor decides to cheat the customer. Then he can become the next victim: his data will be leaked to the police. The scheme does not involve personal communication between the enforcer and the organizer. Everything is done remotely, from other regions of Russia and even other countries.
Having recorded the beatings and abuse, the enforcers send them to the customer. If everything satisfies him, he pays the money. As a result, when the attackers are caught, they can say nothing about the person who hired them.
All information on this terrible story is being collected in a separate report.
Note that this is not the first such case in the region. A similar incident occurred earlier in Zarechny. Then people in masks beat a girl in a group, doused her with green dye, set her hair on fire, and forced her to apologize on camera. And in Pervouralsk, victims were sent a severed head in a coffin.
