The activist who tried to set fire to the village administration was sentenced to 6 years

The court in Yaroslavl sentenced 19-year-old Valeria Zotova to six years in the colony. She was found guilty of attempted terrorist act. As the court ruled, Zotova tried to set fire to the administration building in the village of Karabykha, which stored humanitarian aid collected for Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.

The prosecutor’s office initially demanded that Zotova be sentenced to eight years in prison.

Zotova’s family and defenders believe that she could have been a victim of provocation by the Russian security forces. As they told the Sota publication, several months before the arson attempt, Valeria was corresponded with people from different accounts who were urging her to explode or set fire. Later, one of the users with whom Zotova communicated admitted that she had participated in the operative and investigative activity “operative experiment”.

Valery Zotova was arrested on February 16. Zotova’s mother told “OVD-Info” that her daughter left the house, said she was going out with friends, but did not return home. At about one o’clock in the morning, the security forces came to the Zotovs’ home with a search, they did not introduce themselves and did not provide a reason for the investigation.

On February 20, a Telegram channel associated with local law enforcement agencies published a video of Zotova’s arrest. After the footage of the arrest, a “confession” appears on the video: Valeria Zotova says that she gave information, coordinates and photos of the building for a monetary reward. According to her, she “wanted to set fire to this building” where “parcels are collected for the mobilized and sent to Donbass”.

A criminal case was also initiated against Valeria’s mother, Svetlana Zotova. She is accused of calling for extremism and justifying terrorism.