A student at the Odessa Conservatory avoided prison for a series of arson attacks

The court did not sentence a student at the Nezhdanova Odessa Music Academy—who, for money, organized the arson of the doors to four apartments—to prison. She was given a three-year suspended sentence.

This is stated in the verdict of the Primorsky District Court of Odessa dated October 26.

In the fall of 2024, when the girl was still a minor, she met an unknown user on Telegram. He offered her money to set fire to the doors of apartments in Odesa at the specified addresses.

The girl agreed and recruited two teenage friends. To carry out the arson, they bought charcoal lighter fluid from a store.

The client demanded proof: a video showing the burning doors, with a hand forming a “V” sign in the background. The friends sent the video to the student, and she forwarded it to the client. The money was deposited into her bank card. She decided for herself how much to give her friends and kept the rest for herself.

According to court records, all four incidents occurred between October 22 and October 31, 2024. During that time, nearly 96,000 hryvnias were deposited into the student’s bank card.

In two instances, the young men went to the wrong apartment because there were no numbers on the doors in the building entrances. In one of the incidents, the student herself stood at the entrance to the building and made sure no one showed up. During another arson attempt, a friend also remained nearby and monitored the situation.

The fire damaged doors covering an area ranging from 0.2 to 0.7 square meters. The owners and tenants had to make repairs.

The student pleaded guilty and reached a plea agreement with the prosecutor’s office back in January 2025. All four victims agreed to the plea agreement in writing.

The court sentenced her to three years in prison but suspended the sentence for a two-year probationary period.

In determining the sentence, the court took into account that the young woman sincerely repented, cooperated with the investigation, had no prior criminal record, and was a minor at the time of the crimes. She is described positively by her school. The probation service assessed the risk of reoffending as low.

Two of the student’s friends, who directly set the door on fire, have already been convicted by the Primorsky Court of Odesa under the same article of the Criminal Code. One sentence was handed down in June 2025, and the other in June 2026. Both have become final.

Ірина Глухова