Pensioner from Zaporizhzhia sentenced to 15 years in prison for donations to Ukraine’s armed forces
A 69-year-old woman from Zaporizhzhia region has been sentenced in Russia to 15 years in a penal colony. Svitlana Loy was found guilty of “high treason” for making donations in support of the Ukrainian army through a Ukrainian bank, according to the press service of a Russian regional court.
According to the Russian court, between January and November 2024 the pensioner made 24 transfers totalling around 35,000 hryvnias. “She held anti-Russian views,” the press release stated. It also noted that in December 2023 Loy obtained Russian citizenship without renouncing her Ukrainian citizenship and continued to receive both pensions.
The case was heard in a single session on 10 February. At the start of the hearing, the defendant could not be brought to the courtroom for unspecified reasons. Russian authorities classified any assistance to Ukraine as a crime against the security of the Russian Federation.
The verdict underscores how, in temporarily occupied regions, Russia prosecutes civilians for even minimal acts of support for Ukraine. “Any assistance to Ukrainian defenders is now treated as a criminal offence,” human rights advocates commented. Svitlana Loy is one of many cases in which elderly people face severe punishment for supporting their own country.
