The Kherson Court of Appeal changed the sentence of Kherson resident Iryna Smyrnova, who during the occupation supported the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine.
The verdict was published on the website of the Unified State Register of Court Decisions.
As the investigation established, in September 2022 Smyrnova gave an interview to Russian propagandists in which she denied the Russian Federation’s armed aggression against Ukraine.
In particular, on the video the woman said the following: “I believe, I am simply certain that we will have peace, we are under the protection of a great state, Orthodox, the same as us, we are one people Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and of course I am certain, we tie our future to Russia and to Belarus, one Orthodox people”.
Last year the woman was detained by Ukrainian law enforcement. From December 2024 to February 2025 she was under house arrest.
Then the court found her guilty under part 1 of Article 436-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (justification of the Russian Federation’s armed aggression against Ukraine, glorification of its participants) and sentenced her to two years of probationary supervision, however the prosecutor filed an appeal against this verdict, because, in his view, it did not correspond to the severity of the committed crime.
The appellate court partially satisfied the prosecutor’s complaint. Iryna Smyrnova was imposed a new sentence – imprisonment for 2 years.
The period of her round-the-clock house arrest was credited toward the term to be served in the ratio – three days of round-the-clock house arrest equal one day of imprisonment.