A Brighton Beach man who ignored a court order and ambushed his former roommate in the apartment they once shared was sentenced Wednesday to life without parole. The punishment closes a case that began with a 2020 dispute and ended with a jury conviction for murder, burglary and criminal contempt.
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office identified the defendant as Pavel Orgaev, 62, and said Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Eugene Guarino imposed the sentence. Orgaev was convicted in December 2024 of first-degree murder, first-degree burglary and first-degree criminal contempt following a jury trial, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.
The case grew out of an alleged physical altercation between Orgaev and Dmitri Buvenov, 45, who had been living with him in a Brighton Beach basement apartment. Prosecutors said the confrontation left Buvenov with broken ribs, led to Orgaev’s arrest and resulted in an order of protection requiring him to stay away, as reported by the Brooklyn Paper.
Prosecutors Say Orgaev Returned In The Early Morning
Days later, around 3:30 a.m. on May 11, 2020, prosecutors said Orgaev walked from a nearby residence to the former shared apartment, entered in violation of the order and stabbed Buvenov multiple times. Buvenov was found dead inside the apartment and pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Brooklyn DA’s account.
District Attorney Eric Gonzalez described the killing as “a brutal and premeditated attack carried out in the supposed safety of the victim’s home.” The office credited its homicide prosecutors, detective investigators and digital evidence personnel with helping secure the conviction.
