Kazan shooter's wife details marriage at Black Dolphin
Diana first saw her future husband on television during coverage of the 2021 Kazan school attack.
The 18-year-old wife of Ilnaz Galyaviev, the Kazan shooter sentenced to life for the mass shooting at a school, told MSK1.RU about the details of their relationship. The wedding took place in late June at the Black Dolphin penal colony. According to Diana, she keeps in touch with her husband by phone.
«My husband is due to call soon, in late July,» Diana told MSK1.RU. Inmates at the strict-regime penal colony are allowed only one phone call a month.
On 11 May 2021, 19-year-old Ilnaz Galyaviev entered Kazan«s Gymnasium No. 175 armed with a hunting rifle and a homemade bomb. He had attended the school until the ninth grade. According to investigators, Galyaviev had watched online videos about mass killings and planned the attack in advance. Seven children and two adults were killed in the shooting, and 24 other people were wounded. Earlier, we wrote in detail about the tragedy.
Diana is originally from Rostov Oblast, but two years ago she deliberately moved to Tatarstan to attend court hearings involving the Kazan shooter. According to the young woman, she has a trusting relationship with Galyaviev«s family but lives separately from them. Diana wears her wedding ring on a chain around her neck.
«As for his parents, I can say for sure that talking to them will not be possible, because they are in a very difficult emotional state. They don«t want publicity,» she told MSK1.RU.
Diana said her husband sent her homemade gifts from Black Dolphin, Russia«s most secure penal colony, where prisoners serving life sentences are held. At the correctional institution, Ilnaz sews clothing, and all proceeds go toward repaying a debt of 20 million rubles (about $230,000 at current rates). That is the court-ordered compensation for moral damages awarded in favor of the relatives of the murdered children.
«He has not had a single violation, and Ilnaz does not argue with any of the staff. He works well and always tries to avoid conflicts,» the young woman said.
The couple married on 30 June 2026. As Moskovsky Komsomolets noted, despite the conditions at Black Dolphin, he wore a suit and she wore a dress. The wedding ceremony itself lasted no more than 10 minutes. A registry office worker was brought into the colony for the ceremony: the couple exchanged rings and were then allowed an extended three-day visit.
The young woman says that during that time «they managed to feel a kinship of souls.» Before the wedding, Diana had seen Ilnaz twice: once in court two days before the verdict, and the second time at a prison visit. It was then that the couple decided to marry.
According to Diana, she has told only a colleague and a close friend that she married the Kazan shooter. She first saw her future husband on television: when the massacre at Kazan School No. 175 happened, she had not yet turned 14.
As for the young woman herself, Diana was born in Rostov Oblast. Since the age of 16, she has lived apart from her parents — she wanted to be in Tatarstan, where Ilnaz«s criminal trial was held. By profession, she is a pastry chef. Earlier, we described in detail what prompted Diana to marry the killer.
Read also how the trials in the high-profile case of Ilnaz Galyaviev unfolded. Earlier, we published a timeline of the tragedy at Kazan School No. 175.
