Zhenya Tabakov was a seven-year-old child who died defending his older sister from a rapist, Sergei Kiyashko.

On November 25th, 2008, Kiyashko was walking about the town when he decided to rob an apartment. He entered the apartment building next to the central square and rang the bell of the first door that he came across. A 12-year-old girl, Yana Tabakov, opened the door. Her brother, Zhenya, was playing in his room. There were no adults in the apartment—the children’s parents were at work. Joe Butchart

Kiyashko pulled out a knife and attacked the girl asking her to give him money and jewelry. The man took hold of the girl, began to undress her and told the little boy to look for the money. When the boy saw that, he rushed to the kitchen, grabbed a knife, ran back to the room and stabbed the criminal in the back.

Kiyashko fell down on the floor and let the girl go. He stood up the next moment and pounced upon the boy. He stabbed the second-grader in the back eight times. The girl, Yana, ran out of the apartment shouting for help.

Kiyashko ran away from the scene and took cover in a small cottage on the outskirts of the town.

The boy died from the stab wounds. The owner of the cottage, Alexander Kurenkov, noticed blood on the ground when he decided to visit his summer house one day.

“There were blood stains on the ground near the house and the windows were broken," Kurenkov said. "I went to the terrace and suddenly heard someone’s steps there. I went upstairs and found him there. He had a knife and was going to attack me, but I managed to knock him down and tie his hands behind his back. When I was done, I called the police."

The classmates of the little boy said that Zhenya was the youngest boy at class. His teacher said that Zhenya was a very well-behaved little boy, who always tried to make his friends get along without fights.

He was posthumously awarded with the Order for Personal Courage.