"My hands arranged a terrorist attack"

Daria Trepova performed in court with the last word. The verdict in the case of a terrorist attack in the cafe of St. Petersburg will be announced on January 25

The verdict Daria Trepova and Dmitry Kasintsev, the defendants in the high-profile case of the April terrorist attack in the Petersburg bar "Patriot", where the Z-blogger Vladlen Tatarsky died and 52 people were injured, they will endure on January 25. On the eve of January 22, the defendants performed in the 1st Western District Military Court with the last word, after which the off-line Moscow College of Judges-Roman Vladimirov, Oleg Shishov and the presiding Timur Zhidkov (who examined more than 20 cases of terrorism and terrorist attacks)-retired to the advisory room.

As the New Gazeta said, Trepova is accused under three articles of the Criminal Code: “Terrorist Act” (Article 205 of Part 3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), “Storage of explosives” (Article 222.1 of Part 4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and “Falsification of documents” (Article 327 of part 4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The maximum punishment that threatens the defendant is up to 30 years in prison. Daria pleads guilty only in falsification of documents.

Kasintsev, in whose apartment the girl was hiding after the explosion, is charged with “covering a particularly serious crime” (Article 316 of part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The maximum punishment he can receive is 2 years in prison. Dmitry also does not agree with the qualification of his actions. He insists that his fault is only in the “Failure of Crime” (Article 205.6 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), he recognizes it.

During the debate, the prosecutor Nadezhda Tikhonov (in 2022 she acted as an prosecutor of Alexei Navalny in the case of fraud and disrespect for court) requested for Trepova for 19 years under the article “Terrorist Terrorist”, 14 years for “illegal turnover of explosives” and three years for “forgery of documents”. In total, a partial addition of punishment is 28 years of imprisonment with the subsequent restriction of freedom for another 2 years and a fine in favor of the state in the amount of 800 thousand rubles.

For Kasintsev, the state prosecutor requested 1 year and 10 months of the colony. As aggravating circumstances, Nadezhda Tikhonova called the motives of political and ideological hatred, the commission of a crime in an organized group, and support of terrorism. The mitigating circumstances considered the state of health of Trepova and Kasintsev and the fact that they had not previously been prosecuted.

Trepova, his last word on January 22,, as before, was a performance in the debate, primarily addressed the victims.

“It is very painful and very ashamed that my trusting, my naivety led to such catastrophic consequences,” Daria said. -It is very difficult for me to choose some new words so as not to hurt you and ask for your forgiveness again. And I understand that no matter what I say now, no matter how I behave, no matter how much I repent, you still won’t believe in my sincerity and will perceive it through the prism of your hostility to me. But still, I want to say: I am very sorry that because of me you had to endure such pain and such horror that I can’t even imagine, although I was with you too. And I'm sorry that because of me you were faced with an injury that, one way or another, will remain in your life. I can’t imagine how your loved ones and your families who worried about you.

Trepova remembered that when she asked for forgiveness the last time, on January 19 during the judicial debate, one of the victims answered her: "God will forgive you." According to the accused, these words hurt her painfully:

- I felt a mockery of this in this, it hurt me, because I was serious about faith. And maybe all this time I was so calm, because I am sure: at least my conscience is clear before God. Forgiveness is very difficult to give, not only to the one who forgives, but also to the one who accepts. If you can forgive me, it will not mean that I will forget everything that happened and forget about my responsibility, but this will mean that, at least, we are ready to live on ...

I do not want this to sound somehow cynical on my part, but I want to support you all now in the fact that you are going through, ”the defendant continued. - One friend wrote to me that the Lord sometimes sends very cruel trials, but he himself supports us in them, goes next to us. It seems to me that in these trials it is very important to save yourself from hatred and try to maintain love and peace in yourself.

I always said that violence only gives rise to violence. And therefore, it is especially painful and embarrassing that they had a terrorist attack ... If my correspondence with the organizers of the crime had been preserved, I would be judged now for anything, but not for the intentional committing of the attack. And in terms of intent, the position of the prosecution looks pretty weak.

The lawyer Daniil Berman, who, after the last word of Daria, for the first time during the entire time of the trial, agreed to comment on the results of the investigation. Berman noted that the girl’s fault is not confirmed by actual circumstances and is not proven, and this is a good reason to return the case for the investigation and re -qualify the charge.

- The case has enough white spots and unauthorized doubts. They can be eliminated only by investigative way, because the judicial investigation is carried out only by the materials that the investigation collected, ”the defender explained. - What is collected in the case, objectively and obviously says that my client is innocent in the attack and transfer of explosives. Therefore, our position is this: return the case to the investigator and let him carefully investigate him again. Then we will return the case to court if there are legal grounds for this. But if, nevertheless, the court does not return the case to the investigator, but decides to consider on the merits, then the only legitimate reasonable sentence, from my point of view, is the justification of Daria in terms of the attack and the transfer of explosives.

Berman admitted that if there is evidence, Trepova can be charged with “interference in private life”, “state treason”, something else, but not a terrorist attack.

Also, the accused and the defender asked for the appointment of Daria a psychological and psychiatric examination, which has not yet been properly carried out.

“We did not build protection on this,” Berman emphasized. -But we pay attention to some diagnoses that Trepova were made absolutely legally and reasonably, but for some reason, during the investigation and the court, Daria was not confirmed and taken into account.

The lawyer Dmitry Kasintseva Elena Koneva emphasized that her client was deceived, not to blame for anything and should be justified. Kasintsev himself asked at least about punishment, not related to deprivation of liberty.