Russian investigators have dropped a criminal case against Lida Moniava, the founder of the Dom s Mayakom children’s hospice, after determining her actions contained no elements of a crime, her lawyer Mikhail Biryukov told the Interfax news agency on Oct. 6.
Moniava had faced charges under Russia’s wartime censorship law for allegedly spreading “knowingly false information” about the Russian armed forces in a February 2023 Telegram post. The charge, which carries a potential sentence of five to 10 years, stemmed from a post about Ukrainian civilian casualties. She was detained on Sept. 2, and a court subsequently imposed pretrial restrictions, including a ban on internet use and nighttime travel.
Her support group confirmed the case’s dismissal in a Telegram post, thanking supporters, including hospice patients who attended her court hearing in wheelchairs or with ventilators. Moniava co-founded the hospice in 2018 with palliative care advocate Nyuta Federmesser and had previously been fined 45,000 rubles ($530) in February for “discrediting” the military in separate posts.
The dismissal marks a rare reversal in Russia’s crackdown on anti-war speech. Moniava, who had announced plans to step down as the hospice’s director, said she would remain in Russia to continue her work with critically ill children.
