Alexander Taran

Alexander Fedorovich Taran (; born 1951), known as The Voroshilov Sharpshooter , is a Russian beekeeper who committed a series of attempted and accomplished murders in order to avenge the death of his children.

Biography After his service in the army, Taran began working at a sovkhoz as a zoo technician, fireman and inspector. During the market reforms, he became a beekeeper. He had a house, farm, wife and two children: Natalia (1974–1994) and Vladimir (1977–2001). But in the mid-1990s, his family began to have problems. His daughter Natalia fell in love with a drug addict and soon began taking drugs herself. In June 1994, she was admitted to hospital in a serious condition caused by a drug overdose, where she soon after died. Allegedly, she died from an allergic reaction to an injection given by the doctors. Taran sued the doctor Konoplyankin, who was on duty that day in intensive care (according to some sources, the doctor had long suffered from alcoholism), but Konoplyankin was ultimately justified and pardoned.

Alexander's wife, Nadezhda, went to live and work in Greece a year after Natalia's death. Taran stayed in Russia, focusing his care on his son Vladimir, who had a drinking problem.

In October 2001, Vladimir was killed in a fight at a local disco. Izhayev, the nephew of local entrepreneur Magomed Erkenov, was arrested but later released. No further arrests were made and the case was closed. Taran believed the investigators leading the case were bribed by Erkenov. Taran was given a new trial, and the new jury convicted him. On 9 December, the Stavropol Regional Court sentenced Alexander Taran to 23 years imprisonment. In addition, the court decided that he must pay 1 million and 50 thousand rubles to the family members of the surviving victims for moral damage. Taran did not plead guilty and together with his lawyer, Vyacheslav Savin, tried to appeal the verdict. On 16 March 2010, the sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court of Russia.

Opinions The case of Alexander Taran caused great resonance throughout Russia. Residents from Alexandrovskoye, where Taran lived until his arrest, expressed mixed feelings towards their fellow villager. Some supported him for attempting retribution, while others condemned him for the bloody mob law. Representatives of the government also responded to the case.

Senator Vladimir Lukin said the following:

Stanislav Govorukhin refused to comment on the Taran case.

According to the lawyer Vyacheslav Savin, there were violations towards his client's rights during the second trial. Some of the evidence against Taran was declared unfit.

The professionalism with which some of the crimes were committed raised doubts about Taran's guilt. For instance, in the case of Erkenov's murder, the killer had previously disabled the surveillance camera near the house and fired a sighting. One of the villagers later said that if Erkenov's relatives were sure of Taran's guilt, they would've already killed him. Oleg Tanchik's mother also expressed her doubts about Alexander's guilt: