Moscow's Tverskoi District Court on Wednesday sentenced an 18-year-old student to three years in prison for shooting two men in the metro last year in what she says was self defense.
The court found Alexandra Lotkovaya guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm over an incident that took place last May at the Tsvetnoi Bulvar metro station, when Lotkovaya shot two men with a traumatic gun after a fight broke out between the men and her friends, Rapsi reported Wednesday.
Though Lotkovaya and her lawyers say that she fired on the men only after one of them pulled out a knife, the judge ruled that there was no evidence of a knife.
Lotkovaya's lawyer, Alexei Parshin, vowed to file an appeal.
In comments to Rapsi, he said: "The court has perfected distorting facts … Right in front of her, they were beating her friends, a drunk man with a knife ran toward her … and from the verdict we hear that the aggressive, drunk passengers who attacked were not drunk at all, not attacking, and that the victims, who were beaten, were found by experts to not have bruises or signs of a struggle."
The verdict said Lotkovaya acted "in cold blood and shot at people who were lying down," although police testified in court that she shot at them while they were fighting, Parshin said.
Lotkovaya attributed her ownership of the gun to an earlier incident when she was attacked by robbers, Lenta.ru reported. She purchased the gun when she turned 18 and carried it with her when she knew she'd be out late at night, she said.
No charges were filed against the three men whom Lotkovaya accused of attacking her friends.
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