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Russian Authorities Drop Criminal Case Against Children’s Hospice Founder Lida Moniava
By Drooid · · How we work
Case Dismissed for Children’s Hospice Founder
On October 6, Russian investigators announced that the criminal case against Lida Moniava, head of the “Dom s Mayakom” (Lighthouse) children’s hospice, had been closed because her actions did not meet the legal definition of a crime. Moniava had been detained earlier this month and charged with deliberately spreading “false information” about Russian armed forces in a February 24, 2023 Telegram post that described civilian deaths in Ukraine. The charge carries a potential prison term of up to ten years. Her lawyer, Mikhail Biryukov, confirmed that an official notice of termination had been mailed to the defense team.
Wartime Censorship Law Context
Moniava was prosecuted under Paragraph d, Part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Russian Criminal Code, a wartime censorship provision introduced after the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Prior to this case, Moniava had been fined 45,000 roubles in February 2023 for “discrediting” the Russian military in three Telegram posts.
Official Statements
Mikhail Biryukov told Interfax that investigators concluded “no elements of a crime” were present in Moniava’s actions. The support group that rallied around her posted on Telegram, describing the dismissal as “a miracle” and thanking hospice patients who attended the court in wheelchairs and on ventilators for their solidarity.
Scope of Anti-War Prosecutions
According to the Russian rights organization OVD-Info, more than 1,380 individuals have faced criminal prosecution for expressing anti-war views since the full-scale invasion began, with roughly 350 people currently in prison or pre-trial detention. Moniava’s case represents a rare reversal by authorities that have otherwise recorded near-total conviction rates in similar censorship prosecutions.