'Terror against civilians' — Russian occupation court jails 69-year-old woman for donating to Ukrainian army
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Russian authorities in occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast have sentenced a 69-year-old woman to 11 years in jail for donating to the Ukrainian army, Ukraine's Ombudsman Office said on March 15.
"When an elderly woman is targeted by the repression machine, it is clear that this is not about 'justice' but about terror against civilians," the office wrote on Facebook.
Halyna Bekhter is a retired resident of the village of Plodorodne, in the Russian-occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. According to the Russian installed Zaporizhzhia Regional Court, Bekhter, using Ukrainian online banking, donated to Ukraine's Armed Forces in July 2023.
On March 5, 2026, the court sentenced Bekhter to 11 years' imprisonment, followed by one year of probation. She was charged under Article 275 of Russia's Criminal Code, financial assistance to a foreign state in activities directed against the security of the Russian Federation.
"Halyna Bekhter's story is further proof that Russian occupiers are systematically persecuting Ukrainian civilians in the temporarily occupied territories in an attempt to intimidate people and suppress any support for Ukraine," Ukraine's Human Rights Ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, said.
Lubinets said he took further steps, such as sending a letter to the International Committee of the Red Cross, starting a process of adding Bekhter to the list of civilians unlawfully detained by Russia, and sending a letter to the Human Rights Commissioner of the Russian Federation requesting confirmation of the Ukrainian woman's place of detention.
The southern village of Plodorodne in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Oblast has been under Russian occupation since 2022.
Russia regularly sentences Ukrainian citizens for donations to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, accusing them of treason. On Feb. 10, 2026, the same court sentenced another 69-year-old woman living in occupied Tokmak, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, to 15 years in prison for donating her Ukrainian pension to the Ukrainian army.
