Russia’s Mother Teresa Faces Up to 10 Years in Prison for Criticizing the War

Lida Moniava had disabled her doorbell and asked friends to message before visiting. The sound of knocking frightened her because it recalled a familiar post-Soviet fear: when the state comes for someone, security forces arrive at the door.

Now they have come for her. Authorities searched the 38-year-old’s apartment and took her away. She faces up to 10 years in a penal colony over a Telegram post written in February 2023, on the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Moniava asked: “How many innocent people have died this year because of my country?” Russian authorities classified the statement under Article 207.3 of the criminal code, which covers alleged “fake news about the Russian army,” with “political hatred” cited as the motive.

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How many innocent people have died this year because of my country?

Moniava founded and leads Moscow’s House with a Lighthouse children’s hospice. The article portrays her as a Mother Teresa figure in a country where sick and disabled people are often pushed to the margins, into institutions far from public view. Parents of children born with serious illnesses may be advised at maternity hospitals to give them up. Human-rights advocates describe a bleak progression through closed institutions, from children’s homes to boarding schools and psychoneurological facilities, ending at the cemetery.

Hospitals often refuse to admit dying children, saying they have exhausted available treatment and should return home. There, the children may suffer severe pain, while medicines to ease serious illnesses have become increasingly difficult for individuals to obtain. Moniava’s work has focused on those people. Her decision to remain in Moscow after the invasion and criticize the war has now put her in the state’s sights.

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They are coming!