A court in the city of Kazan has sentenced a man to life in prison for an attack on a school in Russia's Republic of Tatarstan in May 2021 that left nine people -- including seven students -- dead and prompted a tightening of the country's gun laws.
The court on April 13 sentenced Ilnaz Galyaviyev to life imprisonment for the shooting at high school No. 175 in Kazan.
Galyaviyev, who was 19 at the time of the attack, set off an explosion in the school before opening fire on students as they scurried to flee the building, some jumping from third-floor windows to escape the carnage.
Galyaviyev pleaded guilty to the charge of murder of two or more persons by methods dangerous to the public.
A motive for the shooting was not disclosed. Galyaviyev was found to be mentally ill after a psychiatric evaluation, though he had previously not been diagnosed with any disorder.
The shooting was the deadliest school attack in post-Soviet Russia aside from the infamous 2004 Beslan siege, which left hundreds dead, and stunned the country.
Less than two months after the attack, President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill tightening gun controls.
The law raised the minimum age for buying hunting rifles and long-barreled guns from 18 to 21. It also put in place additional restrictions on owning weapons.
Previously, people convicted of serious crimes were barred from owning a gun. The new law says that anyone convicted or under investigation for the consumption of drugs can be denied a gun license.
Russians with two or more expired criminal records also can no longer receive a weapons license.
Galyaviyev used an officially registered weapon in the attack.
Shootings at schools and other educational institutions in Russia and other former Soviet republics were rare until recent years, when the numbers of incidents began to rise.
In April 2022, in Veshkaima, an armed man entered a kindergarten and killed two children and a teacher before shooting himself, while in September 2021, a mass shooting took place at the Perm State National Research University, which resulted in the death of six people.