Anatoly Onoprienko

Anatoly Yuriyovych Onoprienko (; , Anatoly Yuryevich Onoprienko; 25 July 1959 – 27 August 2013) was a Soviet and Ukrainian serial killer and mass murderer. Known by the nicknames The Beast of Ukraine, The Terminator, and Citizen O, Onoprienko confessed to killing fifty-two people upon being apprehended in April 1996.

Early life Anatoly Onoprienko was born in the village of Lasky in Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. In one interview, he later alleged that it was this that predetermined his destiny, and remarked that seventy percent of those brought up in orphanages end up in prison as adults.

Murders When finally arrested by police, Onoprienko was found to be in possession of a total of 122 items, including a sawed-off TOZ-34 shotgun, a number of other weapons which matched those used in several killings, and a number of items which had been removed from victims. He eventually confessed to eight killings between 1989 and 1995. He initially denied other charges but ultimately confessed to the killing of fifty-two victims over a six-year period. Mozola refused to confess to the crimes and died during the torture. Seven responsible for the death were sentenced to prison terms. Seventeen days later, the real murderer, Onoprienko, was found after a massive manhunt, seven years after his first murder. This happened after he moved in with one of his relatives and his stash of weapons was discovered. Onoprienko was forced to leave the house. Days later, from the information received, Onoprienko was captured.

Onoprienko was sentenced to death, but had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment; in 1995 Ukraine had entered the Council of Europe and thus (at the time) it undertook to abolish capital punishment.