Women sentenced to 27 years for death of Russian blogger

A Russian court on Thursday sentenced a woman to 27 years for a cafe blast that killed a prominent pro-war blogger after he was given a statuette of himself that later exploded.

Darya Trepova, 26, was convicted by a court in St. Petersburg of carrying out a terrorist attack, illegal trafficking of explosive devices and forging documents in the 2 April blast at the cafe in which Vladlen Tatarsky was killed and 52 others were injured.

Tatarsky, 40, was an ardent supporter of the Kremlin’s military action in Ukraine and filed regular reports on the fighting from the front lines.

Trepova was seen on video presenting Tatarsky with a statuette moments before the blast at the riverside cafe in the historic heart of Russia’s second-largest city where he was leading a discussion.

She insisted that she didn’t know the statuette contained a bomb. Russian authorities have blamed Ukrainian intelligence agencies for orchestrating the bombing.

Authorities in Kyiv have not directly responded to the accusation.