MOSCOW, March 21 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow’s Tverskoi District Court on Wednesday sentenced a Moscow student to three years in prison for injuring two people at a Moscow subway station in May, the RAPSI news agency reported.
Alexandra Lotkova, 21, said she fired shots from her non-lethal firearm in an attempt to stop a brawl between her friends and two young men - Ivan Belousov and Ibragim Kurbanov. She said her actions should be qualified as self-defense.
Belousov said one of Lotkova’s friends was wearing a knife attached to his belt. Another injured man, Kurbanov, said he tried to take the knife from the man, who was acting aggressively, and a punch-up followed.
Lotkova’s lawyer said the verdict will be appealed.
“I consider this verdict unjust, unfounded and cynical of some sort. The court reached perfection in twisting facts,” said Lotkova’s lawyer Alexei Parshin. “Her friends were being beaten right in front of her, and a drunk inadequate man with a knife was running towards her.”
The alleged knife is not visible on a CCTV camera footage that shows the incident. However, the defense attributes it to poor quality of the video.
The victims say Lotkova fired three shots, while the young woman said she made four shots, one as a warning.
She was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and was sentenced to three years in prison. Such charges entail a maximum punishment of up to eight years in prison. The court also ruled that the period that Lotkova had spent under house arrest before her trial will count toward her sentence.
