Putin pardons two women imprisoned for excessive self-defense against domestic violence

Vladimir Putin has pardoned two women sentenced to seven years in prison for supposedly using excessive force when defending themselves against domestic violence.

In 2016, sixty-two-year old Raisa Pletneva was sentenced to seven years in prison for killing a friend by strangling him with a shawl during what prosecutors described as a heated argument, according to the website Mediazona. Pletneva signed a confession, stating that the man — her roommate — was wildly intoxicated that day and had insulted her, beaten her, and tried to strangle her.

In 2017, forty-eight-year-old Marina Chernysheva was sentenced to seven years in prison for trying to murder her former spouse. Chernysheva says she stabbed him after he started insulting and slapping her. After stabbing her ex-husband, she called for paramedics and administered first aid.

In a third executive order, President Putin pardoned Pavel Petrashov, who was born in 1990. Two years ago, he was imprisoned in the Omsk region for his role in a traffic collision that killed one person.