A Crimean Tatar imprisoned for political reasons, Leniie Umerova, wrote a letter from a Russian prison. Her brother Aziz Umerov reported this on his Facebook page.
“Friends, greetings from Lefortovo prison! Thanks for your support! Thank you also for respecting and sharing what is dear to me: my loved ones, my land! Refusing one in favor of the other is a crime! They can take away my freedom, put me in a cage, turn my life upside down, but they cannot deprive me of values and principles! Now is a difficult time for all of us – Ukrainians! Let us overcome adversity with pride and return everything that is dear to us! Thank you for believing in me and my liberation! Your Leniie!” — wrote Leniie.
We remind you that on December 4, 2022, Russian security forces detained Leniie Umerova after crossing the Georgian-Russian border, allegedly for violating the rules of the security zone. The girl was traveling from Kyiv to occupied Crimea due to the deterioration of her father’s condition.
Until March 16, Leniie was held in the Temporary Detention Center for Foreign Citizens near Vladikavkaz. The occupiers found the girl guilty of violating the state border regime (Part 1 of Article 18 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation) and fined her 2 thousand rubles.
On the night of March 16, 2023, Leniie Umerova was released, but she was grabbed, put a bag over her head, brought to an unfamiliar area of Vladikavkaz and left there. The girl was detained again and a report was drawn up against her for disobeying the police. She was sentenced to 15 days of administrative arrest. This was subsequently repeated three times.
On May 5, the Lefortovo court in Moscow arrested Crimean Tatar Lenya Umerova for 2 months on suspicion of high treason (Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).