38-year-old Lida Moniava is the founder and director of a charity organization based in Moscow that provides end-of-life care for terminally ill children and young adults.
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Her arrest is related to a post published on the Telegram platform during the first anniversary of the war in 2023, in which she mentioned United Nations (UN) data showing thousands of civilian casualties, her lawyer Mikhail Biryukov told AFP.
Prosecutors accuse her of “acting out of political hatred,” said M. Biryukov.
If found guilty, she faces up to 10 years in prison.
The Russian Investigative Committee, responsible for investigating serious crimes, announced that she was charged with “deliberately spreading false information about the use of the Russian armed forces.”
“Moniava was detained. During the interrogation, she did not admit guilt for the alleged crime,” the committee said in a statement.
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The human rights organization Amnesty International called L. Moniava’s arrest “another brazen attempt by the Russian authorities to suppress any anti-war sentiments.”
Since Moscow launched its offensive in February 2022, Russian police have detained thousands of people for speaking out against the war – the bloodiest in Europe since World War II.
Prosecutors often accuse critics of the Russian military of spreading “fake news.”
The Russian media regulator has instructed the country’s media outlets to rely only on “official Russian sources” when reporting on the conflict, which essentially means information provided by the Russian Ministry of Defense.
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