Russian court jails woman over explosion that killed influential military blogger

A Russian court on Thursday sentenced a woman to 27 years in prison for delivering a bomb that killed an influential military blogger in a St. Petersburg cafe last year, a lengthy sentence that underscored the Kremlin's efforts to crack down on violent opposition to the to deter war in Ukraine.

The activist, Daria Trepova, 26, was convicted on charges of terrorism, illegal possession of explosives and forgery of documents.

She presented a statuette to the blogger, Maksim Fomin, popularly known as Vladlen Tatarsky, when he gave a public talk at a cafe in April. Mr Tatarsky was killed and others were injured during the event when a bomb exploded inside the statue.

The prosecutor had argued that Ms. Trepova knew about the explosive in the statue, which resembled the blogger.

While Ms Trepova admitted taking the statue to the cafe, she told the St Petersburg court that she was merely the messenger. according to Mediazona, a Russian news channel. It reported that Ms Trepova said the figurine was sent to her by a man from Ukraine, who led her to believe it contained a listening and tracking device.

“It is especially painful for me that a terrorist act was committed with my hands,” Ms. Trepova said in her final statement to the court, according to Mediazona, asking for forgiveness from the victims.

Born in eastern Ukraine, Mr. Tatarski was a leading member of a vocal and aggressive group of pro-invasion ultranationalist bloggers. Although he had often criticized the way the Russian military prosecuted the war, he had not directly challenged the top brass or President Vladimir V. Putin.