Maria Smorzhevskikh-Smirnova
- Criminal Code
- Article 207.3 part 2 items b, d, Russian Criminal CodeArticle 354.1 part 4, Russian Criminal Code
- Case category
- Anti-war cases
- Verdict
- Imprisonment (in absentia)
- Sentence
- 10 years
- Date of verdict
- 2025-09-25
- Region
- Moscow
- City
- Moscow
Case summary
Director of the Narva Museum in Estonia. On 9 May 2023, a poster with the text "Putin is a war criminal" in English appeared on the wall of the building. In January 2025 Smorzhevskikh-Smirnova was arrested in absentia in the case of spreading deliberately false information about the Russian Armed Forces.
According to the investigation, in 2023, 2024 and 2025, during the Victory Day celebrations, she helped to put up posters on one of the Narva Castle walls with Putin's image and inscriptions that he was a war criminal.
On 25 September 2025, Smorzhevskikh-Smirnova was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in a general regime colony.
Others charged under Article 207.3 part 2 items b, d, Russian Criminal Code
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Source: this person’s record in the OVD-Info political persecution database
Published under CC BY 3.0. The criteria for treating a person as politically persecuted belong to OVD-Info; FACTUM relays their assessment and makes none of its own.
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