Mother Wins Payout for Posthumously Exonerated Son

The St. Petersburg City Court ordered the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation to pay 824,000 rubles (approximately $8,900 at current exchange rates) to the mother of Pyotr Anfertyev. These funds are to compensate for material damage she incurred due to the criminal prosecution of her son, who was exonerated four years after his death. The information was released on February 4 by Darya Lebedeva, head of the joint press service of the city«s courts.

Pyotr Anfertyev was accused of organizing the murder of a woman in Pushkin (a town near St. Petersburg) in 2012. The investigation cited a dispute over inheritance — an apartment — as the motive. In July 2025, the court acquitted him, and the verdict became final.

The mother of the exonerated man filed a claim for reimbursement of expenses incurred during the lengthy trial. She sought compensation for:

A representative of the Ministry of Finance opposed the claim, arguing the expenses were unjustified. However, the court noted that for rehabilitated persons, a simplified procedure for compensation applies, relieving them of the need to prove the grounds and amount of damages.

It was established that the expenses for the lawyer and the expert examination actually occurred, and the situational study was directly related to the criminal case. Regarding the ambulance call, the court stated, “And ambulance services are provided free of charge to citizens. No evidence was presented to the court that the right to free ambulance services could not be exercised,” Darya Lebedeva quoted the court’s position.

Consequently, after calculations adjusted for inflation, the court fully satisfied the claims for compensation for legal and expert costs, ordering 824,000 rubles to be recovered from the treasury of the Russian Federation.