Satanic cannibal murderer whose cult told police the DEVIL would protect them because they 'made lots of sacrifices to him' is pardoned by PUTIN after serving six months in Ukraine

A self-confessed cannibalistic Satanist who was convicted of killing and devouring two children has been freed by Vladimir Putin after the convict fought in his war in Ukraine. 

Nikolai Ogolobyak, 33, had served 13 years of his 20-year prison sentence for murdering the four Russian teenagers in ritualistic killings before he was released and recruited into Putin's army.

Ogolobyak, whose cult killed four teenagers before telling police the Devil would protect them as they 'made lots of sacrifices to him', is now a free man after serving six months fighting in Russia's 'Storm Z' unit for convicts.   

His father told 76.ru that the murderer, who was supposed to be released in 2030, returned on November 2 with a 'severe wound'.  

'After being wounded, he's disabled,' he said. 'He's walking but the wound was severe. He is not working right now, just recovering.' 

Ogolobyak was convicted in 2010 for his part in murdering victims Anya Gorokhova, 16, Olga Pukhova, 15, Varya Kuzmina, 16, and Andrei Sorokin, 16, in two separate 'rituals'.

He and six other members of the Satanic cult drugged and stabbed the four victims 666 times before dismembering them in a forest in Russia's Yaroslavl region in 2008. The criminals including Ogolobyak recited a Satanist text found on the Internet. 

The killers then allegedly lit a bonfire under a tree near their cottage where they cooked and ate their victims' tongues and hearts. 

Ogolobyak, who would count out loud as the victims were stabbed 666 times, was handed the harshest sentence of 20 years in 2010 because he was the only member of the group who was of legal age at the time of the murders.

Prosecutors said during the trial that members of the cult had posed with their victims' bodies for photographs and one allegedly 'bathed' in the blood of the victims. 

Ogolobyak was known as the 'warrior' by prosecutors during the trial because he would be the member to attack the victims first. 

The first two victims to fall prey to the sadistic cult were friends Anya Gorokhova and Olga Pukhova who had met members of the group at school. 

On June 28, 2008, Anya and Olga, both of whom were goths, were lured to Ogolobyak's apartment where members of the sect had gathered. Here, they were plied with alcohol before they were taken to a forest. 

Here, the Satanists formed a pentagram and lit a fire in the centre. One gave a signal and it was at this moment, the group attacked Anya and Olga with daggers in a horrific massacre. 

Alleged cult member Anton Makovkin is said to have beheaded the girls with a machete before the group began taking pictures with the severed heads on their phones. 

The group then cut up the victims' bodies, and are said to have cooked the two girls' tongues and hearts before eating them in a sadistic ritual. 

Ksenia Kovaleva, said to be the girlfriend of cult member Konstantin Baranov, was then 'washed' with the blood of the victims before Anya and Olga's bodies were dumped in a pit dug at the back of Ogolobyak's apartment block. 

The Satanists would use the same tactic again the next night - this time on young couple Varya Kuzmina and Andrei Sorokin. 

At one point, Varya is said to have felt uncomfortable and said she wanted to leave. 'When Varya tried to leave, Kovaleva distracted her, deliberately chatted to her and convinced her to stay,' state prosecutor Elena Smirnova told 76.ru.  

Varya calmed down, but within minutes, the Satanists attacked her and Andrei with knives. Andrei had tried to fight back but he was stabbed to death alongside Varya. 

Like Anya and Olga, the couple were beheaded and their bodies dismembered. 

One of the cult members later reportedly told police that Ogolobyak had stabbed Andrei 666 times - and counted each blow out loud. He would be the one to cut the throats of the victims during the attack. 

Investigators searched for the victims after they were reported missing - but the investigation was hampered by the fact that the bodies were dismembered. 

But their bodies were discovered in August 2008 by police before they arrested eight members of the gang. The body of a small rodent crucified on an upside-down cross was also found at the scene. 

One of the gang, when asked what made him do it, is claimed to have said: 'I tried to turn to God, but it didn't bring me any money.

'I prayed to Satan, and things improved.'

After arresting eight people in connection with the murders, police realised all four victims had made phone calls to the flat of Ogolobyak, a former church choir boy. 

Officers discovered the victims' body parts in a pit 250m from Ogolobyak's apartment block. 

A woman who worked as one of Ogolobyak's teachers at the time of the killings recalled her shock at learning of the charges against him.

'Those who knew him in college, the teachers, couldn't believe that it was he who had done this. He was quiet, with limited intellectual capabilities. For a long time, we didn't believe it was him,' she said, adding that he'd had a 'troubled home life.'

But now, Ogolobyak, who was convicted of murdering two people and desecrating bodies, has been pardoned by Putin after serving six months in Ukraine. 

A convict can only be pardoned and released with Putin's personal signature. The dictator has freed thousands of murderers and rapists but Ogolobyak is the first known Satanist cannibal killer to be pardoned.

Ogolobyak was wounded in the war, but is now free, his father has admitted.

'It's true,' he said. 'He served there for six months in Storm Z. After being wounded [he is] disabled. He can walk, but the wound was serious. He is recovering.

'It is unlikely that they will take him to the [war] again. He returned on November 2.'

The other Satanists were under 18 and given lesser sentences.

Cult members Konstantin Baranov and Alexander Voronov were locked up for ten years in a general regime colony, Alexey Solovyov and Alexey Chistyakov for nine years, and Ksenia Kovalyova for eight years.

Sergei Karpenko was sentenced to two years in a penal colony and Anton Makovkin was diagnosed with schizophrenia and prescribed compulsory psychiatric treatment.

Satanist Ogolobyak - who received the longest jail term - is now living with his mother. Details of his war service and wounding have not been disclosed.

The release of rapists and murderers after fighting for Putin is causing rising alarm in regions across Russia.

Already, more than 30 people have been killed by pardoned returnee convicts freed from jail to fight in the war.

Of the convicts who died, Putin said: 'They gave their lives for their Motherland and atoned for their guilt.'