Published: September 25, 2025
The Moscow City Court has delivered an in absentia verdict against Maria Smorzhevskikh-Smirnova, the director of the Narva Museum in Estonia, sentencing her to 10 years in a general regime penal colony. Smorzhevskikh-Smirnova was found guilty of “rehabilitation of Nazism” and the “public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the Russian Armed Forces.”
The judge announced the decision, which also includes an order for her placement on an international wanted list and an in absentia arrest. Additionally, the court has prohibited her from administering websites for a period of five years.
According to the findings of the court, Maria Smorzhevskikh-Smirnova, acting as the director of the Narva Museum in Estonia, was responsible for organizing, facilitating access, and assisting in the display of posters on a wall of Narva Castle during the annual Victory Day celebrations in 2023, 2024, and 2025. These posters featured an image of the President of the Russian Federation along with inscriptions containing information deemed inaccurate regarding his alleged involvement in war crimes.
