On February 5, 1878, Vera Zasulich came to see the St. Petersburg mayor Trepov and seriously wounded him with two revolver shots in the stomach. She faced 15 to 20 years in prison, but the jury acquitted her completely. The jury’s acquittal was influenced, among other things, by the position of the chairman of the court, Anatoly Koni, who subsequently fell into long-term disgrace.

“Zasulich’s acquittal happened as if in some terrible nightmare, no one could understand “How could such a terrible mockery of the state’s senior servants and such an impudent triumph of sedition take place in the courtroom of an autocratic empire.” Prince Vladimir Meshchersky

“In appearance, she was a purebred nihilist, dirty, unkempt, always walked in rags, in torn shoes, or even barefoot. But her soul was golden, pure and bright, extremely sincere” Narodnaya Volya member Lev Tikhomirov