Russia arrests 25-year-old Crimean Tatar woman on charges of espionage
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Leniye Umerova spent five months in a detention center in North Ossetia, and her administrative arrest was extended several times. On May 4, the Russian FSB officers transferred the woman to Moscow, where she has been in the Lefortovo detention center.
Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets recalled that Russian security forces detained Leniye Umerova on Dec. 4, 2022, after she crossed the Georgian-Russian border while trying to return to occupied Crimea to see her cancer-stricken father. The Russians falsely accused the girl of "violating the rules of the restricted zone" and then placed her under administrative arrest for allegedly "disobeying the police.”
Read also: Crimean Tatar activist Gafarov dies in Russian custody
Leniye's brother Azeez Umerov told Radio Liberty’s Krym.Realii project that his sister was held in the center for foreign citizens for more than three months, and on March 13 she was released by a court decision. Almost immediately, Leniye was detained by the police, allegedly because of the lack of documents. The court imposed an administrative arrest on her, and then another 15 days of detention for not handing over her phone on time because she was calling her parents, and refusing to leave the convoy vehicle.
Lubinets emphasized that Umerova's detention was constantly extended in order to fabricate a criminal case against her. He demanded the immediate release of Leniye Umerova and all civilian hostages and political prisoners held by the Russian occupation “authorities” in Crimea, other temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories, and in Russia.
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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
