Polish man gets life sentence for raping and killing a woman who had fled Belarus

WARSAW, Poland —

A Polish court on Friday convicted a man of raping, robbing and killing a Belarussian woman in Warsaw and handed him a life sentence in prison with a requirement for therapy.

The Regional Court in Warsaw said that the man, identified only as Dorian S., was guilty of attacking Lizaveta Hertsen in February in a street in downtown Warsaw and leaving her unconscious and naked. A janitor found her in a doorway early on Feb. 25.

Hertsen, who was 25, died in hospital on March 1 and was buried at a Warsaw cemetery. She had left Belarus several years earlier and moved to Warsaw, which in recent years has become a hub for Belarusians escaping repression and Ukrainians fleeing war.

The man, aged then 23, was arrested on the day of the attack. Following a trial the court found him guilty of approaching his victim from behind and putting a knife to her throat, raping and then choking her, as well as robbing her.

The assault came as a shock because Warsaw is considered to be a safe city.

The verdict is subject to appeal.