Russian prosecutors request 28-year prison sentence for woman charged with assassinating pro-war blogger

Russian prosecutors have requested a 28-year prison sentence for Darya Trepova, the St. Petersburg resident accused of killing pro-Kremlin “war correspondent” Vladlen Tatarsky last year, St. Petersburg’s court press service reported on Friday.

Trepova is being charged under articles in the Russian Criminal Code against terrorism, trafficking explosives, and forging documents.

Vladlen Tatarsky was killed in April 2023 by an explosion in a St. Petersburg cafe after Trepova handed him a small bust of himself. The Russian authorities believe the sculpture contained a remotely controlled explosive device. Trepova maintains that she was framed and did not know the bust contained a bomb.

Dmitry Kasintsev, the owner of the apartment where Trepova was found and arrested after Tatarsky’s death, is on trial alongside Trepova for concealing her crime. Prosecutors requested he be sentenced to a year and ten months in prison.