Police examine 'occult' link to animal cruelty case as new 'pet cemetery' found

WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES!

Two students who live as neighbours are now under investigation over horrific cruelty to pets with the suspicion they are linked to an occult sect.

Alyona Savchenko, 17, and Alina Orlova, also 17 but her age was previously given as 20, were both members of a now-deleted social media group called Mortem where users shared pictures of animal dissection and killed pets.

The pair fell under suspicion after they allegedly shared revolting pictures of the 'torture' of dogs, cats and birds. It is believed occult images were drawn on building where the girls allegedly killed the animals. 

In one picture, Alyona holds a puppy's heart with the caption: 'It's for you Anubis' - the original Egyptian 'god of the dead'. She is reported to have called herself the 'Devil's Duchess' when she was detained in Novosibirsk. She claimed 'she needs to be constantly covered in blood to feel warmth'.

Her clothing in online postings is shown smeared in blood. Initially Savchenko was detained under house arrest, but Orlova was given protection as a witness.

Now Orlova has been held as a second suspect, also under house arrest, and investigations are underway into whether a larger group is involved. The pair are being investigating for crimes which could lead to two years in prison. 

A spokesman for the Investigative Committee, equivalent of the FBI, said: 'During a search of one suspect's apartment, the skull of a cat was found. Home computers and phones were seized for analysis. It should be noted that investigators are checking the involvement of others in the crime.' 

Animal protection campaigners have also asked investigators to examine where a 'hard crush fetish' is involved, whether people obtain sexual arousal from seeing young women crush small animals.

There are fears the animals were killed to make videos, possibly sold to China. Animal protection campaigner Anastasia Fedyanina said: 'Masochists viewing these videos imagine themselves in the place of the tortured animals. The role of the torturers is usually taken by prostitutes or young woman with a sadistic inclinations.' 

Such videos are in big demand in China. According to Fedyanina the cost of such videos is from $18 to $35 for the murder of a mouse or a rabbit, from $180 to $220 - for torturing a puppy or kitten. 

'On average, per day are sold about 12 videos with rabbits and four with kittens or puppies,' she said.

The cruelty involves 'dozens' of animals, and activists recent found a pet cemetery in an abandoned building in Khabarovsk. This involved at least two cashes with bones of puppies, and the remains of adult dog. 

Two other friends of the pair, one male and one female, have been linked to the case but have not been detained. One Yulia Patsyuk, 17, has denied any involvement while adding: 'I don't understand all this panic on the internet.'

She claimed she became suspicious of her friend Savchenko when she showed her a picture of 'a cat with its belly cut open'. A neighbour said that stray dogs had 'started disappearing' in the summer. 

'We gather stray dogs, feed them, vaccinate them and find them new owners. And in the middle of the summer puppies started disappearing somewhere.' 

The concern over the pair under house arrest came after pictures were published showing a dog nailed to a wall. Another white dog was hung by its collar and shot with an air gun. A black dog was was 'crucified' and dissected.

Baseball bats, chemical liquids, tongs, and other instruments of torture were used on the animals, the pictures showed.

In Moscow, there was a rally in front of the Khabarovsk region's office to protest about the cruelty.