Russian trials against senior citizens: Even people with dementia are sent to prison camps

The taz panterstiftung presents a weekly selection of current reports from critical Russian media every Wednesday at taz.de/unserfenster. With this project, the taz panter foundation strengthens independent journalism and enables critical editorial teams to continue their work even under difficult conditions.

Mediazona opens a window to Russia with the following article. You can find the full text here in Russian.

It's a draconian punishment. A military court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced 77-year-old civil rights activist Volodymyr Ananiev to 18 years in a penal colony. The court sees Ananiev, who comes from the Crimean peninsula, as a “terrorist”. According to Mediazona, Ananyev had stated before the start of the trial that for him any prison sentence - "whether 2 or 22 years" - would be equivalent to a "death sentence".

The Russian domestic secret service FSB accuses Ananiev of having prepared an assassination attempt on Sergei Aksyonov together with two other people on behalf of the Ukrainian secret services. Aksyonov is the Kremlin-appointed head of administration in the annexed Crimea. The group is said to have observed Aksyonov's vehicle using a surveillance camera.

Ananyev has been committed to the rights of property owners on the peninsula since the early 2000s. He helped farmers privatize land and start businesses. After the Russian annexation of the peninsula in 2014, he lived in Kyiv. In November 2023, he traveled to Crimea to visit his parents' graves.

Shortly afterwards, in February 2024, Russian security authorities reported that they had foiled a planned attack by the Ukrainian secret service SBU. Two other defendants, Volodymyr Bodnar and Oksana Shevchenko, were sentenced last year to 13 and 10 years in prison. Their trials took place without examining the evidence following an agreement with the public prosecutor.

The proceedings against Ananyev himself had been running since February 2025; According to the human rights organization “Crimean Human Rights Group”, his health deteriorated significantly while in custody. He therefore received hardly any medical care. During the court hearings he had to use a walking stick, complained of high blood pressure and asked for medical attention.

In another article, Mediazona reports on the case of 68-year-old pensioner Halyna Bechter from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia region. She was sentenced to twelve and a half years in prison for “high treason”. The reason: She is said to have transferred the equivalent of 1,240 rubles (around 14 euros) to the Ukrainian armed forces.

According to her fellow prisoners, Bechter's health deteriorated dramatically while in custody. She shows symptoms of dementia, can no longer eat independently and is dependent on the help of other prisoners. A fellow prisoner describes her as completely emaciated and fears that she will not survive the transport to the penal colony.

Despite her condition, the public prosecutor's office had the original sentence of 11 years increased. It is not yet known where Bechter will serve her prison sentence.

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