Sovietskiy District Court of Vladikavkaz City has again found Ms.Leniye Umerova, a Crimean Tatar, guilty of disobedience to the police and imposed next 15 days of administrative arrest.
According to the court decision wording that is in the possession of the CHRG, the girl was said to have “refused leaving a special vehicle though demanded by the police” on April 26. A new report was drawn up on Ms.Leniye Umerova under RF CoAO Article 19.3-1 (‘disobedience to the policemen’s requirements’) that was considered the same day by Federal Judge L.G.Valiyeva.
Leniye as well as her lawyer explained to the court that there had been no failure to obey. This being said, the lawyer insists, the defendant has not been identified yet though she has been several times held administratively liable.
- As reported by the CHRG, for more than 4 months Russia has been holding Ms.Leniye Umerova, a Crimean Tatar, a citizen of Ukraine, hostage. On December 4, 2022, Ms.Umerova, aged 25, was to leave Kyiv for the occupied Crimea because the health condition of her father, suffering from cancer, had worsened.
- Ms.Umerova was detained by Russian security forces once she crossed the Georgian-Russian border, as it was said “for violating the rules of the regime zone”. Until March 16, Leniye was held in the Center for Temporary Detention of Foreign Citizens near Vladikavkaz. The Prigorodnyi District Court found the girl guilty of “violating the state border regime” (Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, Article 18.1) and fined her RUR2,000.
- On March 16, at night, Leniye was released from the Detention Center for Foreign Citizens. But, as the girl told later, a car with 4 men inside was waiting for her at the gate. They rushed her, put a bag on her head, brought her to a Vladikavkaz area she did not know, and left her there. Almost immediately she was detained by a police patrol. When she asked about the detention reasons, the policemen drew up a report on her for disobedience to the police. The Leninskiy District Court imposed an administrative punishment on her – 15 days of arrest.
- While she was being held in the temporary holding facility, one more report – a similar one – was drawn up on her: it said that the girl had refused to give her mobile phone to the police. On March 27 the same court again sentenced her to 15 days of arrest. Leniye was moved to the temporary holding facility of Beslan City.
- On April 9, a new report for disobedience to the police was drawn up on her. And on April 11, the Sovietskiy Court of Vladikavkaz again sentenced her to 15 days of arrest.
“These administrative arrests are just used to keep the girl in custody. They are gross violations, which obviously demonstrate the politically motivated persecution and falsification of administrative cases. I am afraid that with these administrative arrests, the girl is actually being held in captivity for the purpose of fabricating a criminal case,” Ms. Olha Skrypnyk, Head of CHRG Board, says.
Ukrainian human rights defenders demand to release Ms.Leniye Umerova.
