the story of a Crimean Tatar activist imprisoned for

From Russian captivity to Ukraine returned 49 military and civilian. Among them is the Crimean Tatar activist Leniye Umerova, captured by the Russians while crossing the Georgian border in 2022.

“UP. Life” collected Lenia’s letters and testimony from captivity and tells the story of the girl who managed to be freed from the hands of the Russian security forces after two years of imprisonment on trumped-up charges.

Leniye Umerova is a native of Crimea, who after the annexation of the peninsula moved to mainland Ukraine to finish school here. She refused to get a Russian passport in Crimea.

Later, Lenie joined the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute named after Ihor Sikorskyi and studied at the Department of Chemical Technologies. Later, the girl worked in the marketing team of a Ukrainian clothing brand.

However, in December 2022, Lenia had to leave Kyiv for the occupied Crimea due to the deterioration of the condition of her cancer-stricken father.

“At the beginning of November, dad started having severe pains. For several years, everything was fine, nothing bothered him, but here are the complications. The doctors said that he needs to operate, it’s serious.

There were no options not to go, but I made the final decision at the last moment, almost without saying anything to anyone. He was scheduled for surgery on December 2, and on the morning of the 4th, after anesthesia, I was supposed to come and arrange a surprise,” – Lenie wrote in one of her letters from the pre-trial detention center.

According to her, the most convenient route was through Georgia: there was a direct minibus from Tbilisi to Simferopol.

“And so, on December 3, I stood at the Verkhniy Lars border crossing point. At first, everything went as usual: documents and luggage were checked, Ukrainian citizens were told to hand over their phones for inspection. Everything that happened next was some kind of endless terrible dream, or, if you think philosophically, a test.” Lenier wrote.

Russian security forces the girl was detained while crossing the border allegedly for violating the rules of the regime zone.

Until March 16, she was held in the Center for Temporary Detention of Foreigners near Vladikavkaz. The court found the girl guilty of “violating the regime of the state border” and fined her 2,000 rubles.

On the night of March 16, the girl was released, but a car with four men was waiting for her at the gate. According to human rights defenders, Leniye was grabbed, a bag was put on his head and taken to an unfamiliar area of ​​Vladikavkaz. She was almost immediately detained by a police patrol for “disobedience”.

The decision of the Russian “court” says that they offered her to name herself, and Lenie showed her a passport of a citizen of Ukraine and a foreign passport. After that, the said persons offered her to go to the police station to identify the person, explaining that they are identifying persons involved in the distribution of narcotics.”

When asked why she was being detained, the law enforcement officers drew up a second report – for disobeying the demands of police officers. They believed that the girl “spoke too loudly and refused to get into the car.”

On March 27, the “court” again sentenced him to administrative arrest for “disobeying the order of the police.” This time, the reason for the continuation of the arrest was that the girl did not return the phone to the detention center staff in time after talking with her father.

On April 9, Lenia Umerova’s detention period ended. But on April 11, the “court” ordered her a third administrative arrest – for 15 days. This time, the woman was accused of refusing to get out of the car at the request of the police.

On April 26, the Vladikavkaz court again arrested Umerova for 15 days. Another administrative report on disobedience was drawn up on Lenie.

On May 1, the FSB of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania seized her documents. Later, a girl arrested Moscow’s Lefort court on suspicion of espionage. Her case was promptly classified.

Russian propagandists, citing the FSB of the Russian Federation, reported that the Ukrainian woman was accused of passing “information on the deployment and tasks of Russian troops, in particular those that participated in the operation in the Kyiv region, to the special services.”

In June, her detention was extended for three months.

Brother Lenie said that the girl was even subjected to a forensic psychiatric examination.

“Even now, we do not understand what exactly she is suspected of. Let me remind you, she continues to be kept in a cell by herself, the letters she writes undergo a three-week check“, he said.

The brother added a video of the propagandists, in which they say that Lenie was detained for alleged espionage and faces up to 20 years in prison. No evidence of Umerova’s offenses was provided.

The trial of Lenier had to spend in the fall of 2024 in Moscow. However, in September 2024, Lenie was released from Russian captivity along with other military and civilians.