The Second Western District Military Court sentenced a 19-year-old resident of Yaroslavl, Valeria Zotova, to 6 years in prison under an article on an attempt to commit a “terrorist act” (part 3, article 30, part 1, article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), Zotova was allegedly going to set fire to a supply depot, from where goods are sent for those mobilized for war to Ukraine. This is reported by the project "Solidarity Zone".
The prosecutor requested 8 years in prison for Zotova, the girl has been in a pre-trial detention center since February 2023.
On Wednesday, June 28, the second hearing in the case against Zotova was held. The previous case was adjourned at the request of the defense for a week, as one of the witnesses did not appear in court, although he was notified of him.
As the Solidarity Zone project reported , Valeria Zotova's mother, Svetlana, from the very beginning called the case a provocation by the special services. The case materials obtained by the lawyer and the words of the girl herself indicate that the case was a provocation by the FSB. According to him, the agents of the service actively persuaded the girl to set fire to the collection point for the Russian military. It is noted that Zotova could attract the attention of the special services with her anti-war position.
One of the witnesses admitted in her testimony that the case was an "investigative experiment."
It is also known that a case was opened against Zotova’s mother for incitement to extremism (part 2 of article 280 of the Criminal Code) and justification of terrorism (part 2 of article 205.2 of the Criminal Code) because of the comments under the posts of the Telegram channels Fighter Anarchist and Ukraine 24/7".
In February, the Yaroslavl Glavny Telegram channel published a video with Zotova’s “confession” that she had transferred coordinates and photographs of buildings to the Armed Forces of Ukraine for 7,000 rubles. In the video, Zotova asks the person on the other side of the camera several times what exactly she should say.
After a “partial” mobilization was announced in Russia in September, military enlistment offices were set on fire in some regions. Minors are also being detained on suspicion of such attacks. So, on March 1, a 16-year-old schoolboy was detained on suspicion of attempting to set fire to a military registration and enlistment office in Kirovsk, Leningrad Region. At first, cases of arson were initiated under articles of hooliganism or damage to property, but later the charges began to be reclassified as terrorism. So, in January, a military court in Yekaterinburg sentenced a Russian citizen to 12 years in prison under this article, who set fire to the military enlistment office in Nizhnevartovsk.
One of the harshest sentences in the arson case came on April 10. A court in Yekaterinburg sentenced Roman Nasryev and Aleksey Nureyev to 19 years in prison for setting fire to the administration building, which housed the military registration desk. They were found guilty of committing a terrorist attack and "undergoing training for the purpose of committing terrorist activities." Nasryev and Nuriev threw Molotov cocktails through the window of the building in protest against the war in Ukraine and mobilization. The watchman was able to extinguish the fire before the arrival of firefighters, the window and linoleum were damaged.