Ukrainian woman imprisoned in Russia writes letter to Zelenskyy: Freedom has no price

Leniie Umerova, a Ukrainian citizen and a Crimean Tatar who has been detained in Russia for six months after trying to visit her sick father in Crimea, has written a letter to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Source: Leniie’s brother Aziz Umerov on Facebook

Quote: "Dear Volodymyr Oleksandrovych, greetings to you! My name is Leniie Umerova, I am a citizen of Ukraine and a Crimean Tatar. I am writing this letter to you as a political prisoner from the Lefortovo pre-detention centre. At the beginning of last winter, I tried to get to my sick father in Crimea, but when I entered the territory of the Russian Federation, I was detained in a criminal manner. And six months later, in May, far-fetched charges of espionage were brought forward against me.

Today I want to write about the most crucial thing. Now our society is going through difficult times and is fighting for its rights to development and life. And all of us, citizens of Ukraine, each in their place, courageously defend the most valuable things we have, our dignity and freedom. The foundation laid by previous generations and fixed on their own experience. Words that for each of us have become a basic need that we defend!

Thank you for showing by your own example, as a leader of a sovereign democratic country, that the words ‘dignity’ and ‘freedom’ have no price!

Yours sincerely, L.R. Umerova 

P.S. And there will be a son, and there will be a mother, and there will be people on earth!" [quote from a poem And Archimedes, and Galileo by Taras Schevchenko – ed.]

Details: Leniie’s brother said that the Russians had ordered a forensic psychiatric examination in relation to Umerova.

Quote: "The term, methods and means of this examination remain unknown. Lawyers systematically visit Leniie and try to keep the situation under control as much as possible. During the last visit, Bojek [Leniie’s nickname, translated from the Crimean Tatar as "bug" – ed.] handed over a letter addressed to the president of Ukraine.

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Background:

• On 4 December last year, Leniie had to leave Kyiv for occupied Crimea due to the deterioration of her cancer-stricken father. Russian security forces detained the woman crossing the Georgian-Russian border, allegedly for violating the rules of the state border crossing.
• Until 16 March, she was kept in the Temporary Detention Centre for Foreigners near Vladikavkaz. The court found Umerova guilty of "violating the rules of the state border crossing" and fined her RUB 2,000 [approx. US$20 – ed.]
• On the night of 16 March, Leniie was released, but a car with four men was waiting for her right at the gate. According to human rights activists, Leniie was captured, a bag put on her head, and taken to an unknown location in Vladikavkaz.
• Umerova was almost immediately detained by a police patrol for "insubordination". The court ruling said that when asked to identify herself, Leniie showed the passport of a citizen of Ukraine and a travel passport. After that, she said representatives of law enforcement told her to go with them, explaining that they are searching for people involved in distribution of narcotics.
• When asked why she was being detained, law enforcement officers drew up a second protocol for disobeying police officers’ requests. They thought that Umerova "was being too loud and refused to get into the car".
• On 27 March, the court re-imposed her arrest under the Russian Code of Administrative Offences for "disobeying the order of a police officer". This time, the reason for the extension of the arrest was that Leniie did not return the phone on time to the detention centre staff after talking with her father.
• On 9 April, Leniie Umerova's detention term was about to expire. But on 11 April, the court appointed a third arrest under the Code of Administrative Offences for 15 days. This time, she was accused of refusing to get out of the car at the request of a police officer.
• On 26 April, the Vladikavkaz court again arrested Umerova for 15 days. Another administrative charge sheet on disobedience was drawn up against Leniie.
• In May, Umerova was arrested by the Lefortovo court in Moscow on suspicion of espionage.
• Leniie’s brother noted that her only crime was that she did not obtain a Russian passport as a native of Crimea.
• In June, her detention was extended for three months.

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