Smirnova Olga Borisovna

The case against Olga Smirnova was initiated due to posts in the "Peaceful Resistance" community on VKontakte, and the investigation lasted more than a year. The prosecution claimed that after the start of the war, Olga "out of political hatred" published at least seven posts containing "unreliable information" about the Russian armed forces. In particular, the posts spoke about strikes on infrastructure and cultural objects of Ukraine, as well as the death of civilians. The 54-year-old activist has been involved in protest activities for more than ten years. Since 2014, Olga Smirnova, along with like-minded people, has regularly held rallies in support of arrested Crimean Tatars. In 2021, a criminal case was opened against her under the article on justifying terrorism, but later the court considered the initiation of the case illegal. The new trial of the activist is taking place in closed session. According to journalists, the woman does not deny authorship of the posts, but does not plead guilty and refuses to consider the published information as knowingly false. On August 30, 2023, Olga Smirnova was sentenced to 6 years in a general regime penal colony. On March 20, 2024, the St. Petersburg City Court upheld the verdict. St. Petersburg's Court of Appeal also upheld the sentence on December 12.