In the temporarily occupied Crimea, the Supreme “Court” has handed down another illegal verdict in a case of alleged “treason.” According to Krymsky Process, the convicted person is a 37-year-old Niyara Ersmambetova, a resident of the Bilohirsk (formerly Nizhnegorsk) district and mother of two minor children.
The woman was accused of collaborating with the Ateş partisan movement and allegedly passing on information about air defense positions. The entire case was heard in closed mode. During the final arguments, the prosecutors requested 18 years of imprisonment, but after two days of consultations, the “judges” handed down a sentence of 15 years in a penal colony and one and a half years of restrictions on freedom.
Niyara Ersmambetova was detained in May 2025, just seven days after her mother’s funeral. Before her arrest, she worked as a pharmacist and was the sole breadwinner for her family. Her children, a 9-year-old daughter and a 16-year-old son, were left without a parent. They now live with their 70-year-old grandfather, who has a Group II disability.
The Crimean Tatar Resource Center strongly condemns the illegal persecution of Niyara Ersmambetova and other Ukrainian citizens in occupied Crimea. Such sentences are politically motivated and are used by Russian occupation structures to intimidate the population.
The CTRC calls on the international community to pay special attention to the situation in occupied Crimea and to increase pressure on Russia to demand the immediate release of all illegally detained Ukrainian citizens.