Illegally detained Crimean Tatar Umerova transferred to Lefortovo prison

Crimean Tatar Lenia Umerova was illegally detained by Russian security forces in winter and was transferred to the Moscow detention center Lefortovo.

That's according to Suspilne.Crimea, citing the detainee's brother, Ukrinform reports.

"Crimean Tatar Leniya Umerova, who was held behind bars by Russians for 5 months in North Ossetia, was taken to the Moscow detention center Lefortovo," the report says.

According to Aziz Umerov, his sister called her parents from the phone of the FSB investigator, crying and asking them to send her a lawyer. She is accused of espionage.

It is reported that today a court will be held to choose a preventive measure for Umerova.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on December 4, 2022, Russian security forces detained 25-year-old Lenia Umerova after crossing the Georgian-Russian border when she tried to return to the temporarily occupied Crimea to care for her father with cancer. She was accused of allegedly violating the rules of the restricted zone.

Umerova was placed in the Center for the Temporary Detention of Foreign Citizens in Vladikavkaz. Russian court found her guilty of "violating the regime of the state border" (part 1 of article 18 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation) and fined her two thousand rubles. Her arrest was extended several times in the Russian Federation.