Is it wise for researchers to thank Alexandra Elbakyan (founder of Sci-Hub) in the paper acknowledgements? Alexandra Elbakyan founded the site Sci-Hub, which allows bypassing publisher paywalls.

If this service is used by researchers to access papers that would otherwise be out of their reach - due to their university not having subscribed to publishers or not being able to buy papers due to budget constraints - is it a good idea / wise to thank Alexandra in the Acknowledgement section of a paper citing the otherwise unattainable papers?

For example, "We would like to thank Alexandra Elbakyan for her work / contributions to science" without explicitly mentioning any specifics.

A similar question was already asked with the top rated answer pointing out that it would be unwise for paper authors to admit to illegal activity in a formal document.
This seems like a reasonable point.

Reseachers thanking someone for their contribution to science does not seem illegal and might get some readers of a paper to research the background of the acknowledgement.
I'm hoping here that you want to express your opinion that we need a site on which broad copyright license is granted by authors, rather than held closely. I hope you aren't expressing favor of a site in which copyrights of others are simply ignored and not respected and on which illegal activities occur. 

I, too, think a site on which people voluntarily agree to a broad license to their work is granted would be a very valued thing. But I wouldn't praise any site that actively encourages the disrespect of authors and their rights. 

I don't have a lot of use, either, for journals and other publishers that demand the rights from authors, but that is a different problem. 

But, to answer the question directly, associating yourself professionally with behavior treated by many as unethical and even illegal, is probably a mistake. Tactical, if nothing else. You won't really effect the needed change that way.