A military court in St. Petersburg court on Friday sentenced a Russian woman to 10 years in prison for throwing a molotov cocktail at a military recruitment office last September.
The 1st Western District Military Court found Elena Komaricheva, 59, guilty of “terrorism” charges after she agreed “to set fire to the... Military Commissariat of the City of St. Petersburg... in order to intimidate the public and dangers to human life, causing significant property damage.”
An unidentified person was said to have convinced Komaricheva to throw a Molotov cocktail at the emergency exit of the military recruitment office, causing damages of around 37,000 rubles ($41).
A judge ruled that she must serve 10 years in a medium-security prison. Prosecutors had requested a 13-year prison sentence for the woman.
According to the independent news outlet RusNews, Komaricheva fell victim to phone scammers posing as law enforcement officials. The scammers allegedly told her that criminals were trying to steal her money and advised her to transfer the funds to a “safe account.”
Komaricheva reportedly sent 10 million rubles ($113,000) to that account.
The scammers later told the woman that the criminals trying to steal her money had been caught and needed “to be punished.” They then instructed her to bring a Molotov cocktail to an address where the supposed fraudsters were staying.
Komaricheva followed the scammers’ instructions and went to the address, which turned out to be a military enlistment office where police officers eventually showed up and arrested her. Based on the RusNews report, it was not immediately clear if the scammers also told her to set fire to the enlistment office.
The woman’s defense lawyer intends to appeal the verdict against her, according to the independent SOTAvision news outlet.
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