03 August 2026

Convicted Crimean Tatar Niyara Ersambetova was transferred to Mordovia

Convicted Crimean Tatar woman Niyara Ersambetova was transferred from Pretrial Detention Center No. 1 in the temporarily occupied city of Simferopol to a penal colony in the Republic of Mordovia in the Russian Federation, located approximately 1,700 kilometers from her home.

Niyara Ersambetova was detained in May 2025, just seven days after her mother’s funeral. In November 2025, the occupation “court” sentenced her to 15 years in prison for alleged “high treason”. She was accused of collaborating with the Atesh partisan movement and allegedly passing on information about fuel depots and air defense positions.

Before her arrest, Niyara worked as a pharmacist, raised two children, and was the sole breadwinner for her family. Following her unlawful imprisonment, her two minor children were left without a mother and are now being cared for by their elderly grandfather. Despite these circumstances, Russian courts refused to apply suspension of sentence until the children reach the age of majority, which is provided for in their legislation.

Her transfer to Mordovia means that she is now even further away from her family, who will have significantly fewer opportunities to stay in touch with her. Such a transfer exacerbates the isolation of unlawfully detained Ukrainian citizens and is yet another tool of pressure that Russia systematically uses against political prisoners.

Forced displacement of civilians from the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea to the territory of the Russian Federation violates the norms of international humanitarian law. This practice is part of the aggressor state’s systematic repressive policy toward the residents of occupied Crimea and may be considered a war crime, for which those responsible must be held accountable.