Valeria Marchenko. Photo: Memorial
An employee of a poultry farm in the Russian Urals has been sentenced to 20 years in a penal colony for treason, terrorism, and the attempted arson of a military enlistment office, independent news outlet Mediazona reported on Thursday.
Valeria Marchenko, a 39-year-old resident of Russia’s Sverdlovsk region who had been in pretrial detention since March 2024, was also convicted by a Yekaterinburg court of “preparing a terrorist act”.
During the court proceedings, which were held entirely behind closed doors, as is typical for cases relating to treason, she fully admitted her guilt. Per the court’s decision, custody will be arranged for Marchenko’s 12-year-old-daughter.
According to a source cited by SOTAvision, an independent Telegram news channel, Marchenko was accused of attempting to set fire to the regional military enlistment office in the center of Yekaterinburg between 22 March and 24 March 2024.
The SOTAvision source familiar with the case said Marchenko was detained by security forces on the way to the office carrying eight Molotov cocktails. Investigators believed that Marchenko was going to set fire to the building “in order to destabilise the authorities and influence decision-making on bringing the special military operation to an end”.
Marchenko was reportedly encouraged by an employee of the I Want to Live project — a Ukrainian project designed to facilitate the surrender of Russian soldiers — to set fire to the military enlistment office, and was sent instructions for how to do so.
According to Mediazona, which cited a person with knowledge of the matter, Marchenko allegedly had “obtained secret information about the activities of the Russian government”. Since at least 2019, she had worked at a poultry farm as an ammonia refrigeration unit operator.
Last September, the Politzek-Info project, an advocacy platform for political prisoners in Russia, published fragments of a letter written by Marchenko from pretrial detention in Yekaterinburg:
“I’m not giving up and I won’t give up for anything! I put everything I had on the line: my children, a 19-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter, my freedom, my career, my health — I didn’t even complete my degree this year! I acted righteously, according to my heart, and I do not regret anything! So stop being silent and afraid, look at the endless number of people dying and the lawlessness of darkness!"