“Bones covered by skin”. Russia jails Ukrainian pensioner with dementia for 12.5 years over a donation to Ukraine’s army; in prison, she can’t feed herself

Halyna Bekhter and her husband lived in the village of Reichenfeld (called Plodorodne until 2025) in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, according to Lyudmila Huseynova, founder of the human rigths group Numo, Sestry (“C’mon, Sisters!”). The village was occupied at the very start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. In the summer of 2022, Bekhter’s daughter fled to the part of the country under Ukrainian control, but her elderly parents stayed behind.

Huseynova told Novaya Gazeta Europe that the Bekhters never hid their pro-Ukrainian stance, which led to conflicts with some of their pro-Russian neighbors. As a result, the Russian military took the couple in for questioning in November 2024, but later released them.

In July 2025, Halyna Bekhter was detained. Huseynova, who is in touch with the family, says a neighbor who had spoken in support of Putin reported her. Bekhter had told the neighbor: “Our people will be back soon. Let’s see what you have to say then!”

According to Numo, Sestry, Bekhter was first held in Melitopol, then in the village of Yakymivka in the Zaporizhzhia region. She spent some time in Donetsk before being moved to Pretrial Detention Center No. 1 (SIZO-1) in Simferopol, Crimea. Her husband died in their home village in January 2026.

In March 2026, the occupational administration’s Zaporizhzhia Regional Court sentenced 68-year-old Bekhter to 11 years in prison on charges of “treason.” According to investigators, in July 2023 she used a Ukrainian banking app to send money to an account linked to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (the amount was the equivalent of 1,240 rubles, or about $15).

Prosecutors found that sentence too lenient and appealed, asking for 16 years instead. In July, the First Appellate Court of General Jurisdiction increased Bekhter’s sentence to 12 and a half years. By the time of the appeal, it was already known that she had developed symptoms of dementia in custody.

In May, two months after the sentencing, the human rights organisation ZPCh (“For Human Rights”) published excerpts from a letter written by Bekhter’s cellmate in Simferopol:

In a subsequent letter dated July 2026 and quoted by Novaya Gazeta Europe, the cellmate wrote that Bekhter, who is 176 centimeters (5’9”) tall, weighed 50 kilograms (110 lbs). “[She] lies in bed all the time, doesn’t change her clothes, doesn’t understand what to do in the shower, and has no control over her bodily functions. She suffers from fecal incontinence,” the woman wrote, asking for adult diapers to be sent.

Bekhter is currently being transferred from the detention centre to a penal colony. And, according to Mediazona’s sources, the transfer has already taken more than three weeks. Her destination is still unknown.

Shortly before the transfer, a cellmate described Bekhter’s condition as follows: “Her bones are covered only by skin, no muscle at all. She soils herself, and the girls wash her and do her laundry. She’s completely lost her mind; they spoon-feed her and mash everything up for her since she doesn’t have a single tooth left. She won’t survive the transfer. What kind of justice can we even hope for?”

The most recent letter about Halyna Bekhter was received on October 12: it was written from Penal Colony No. 15, a transit prison in the Samara region by her former cellmate Larisa Belyaeva, who was convicted of purchasing Ukrainian military bonds:

Belyaeva wrote to Russia’s human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova, describing everything happening to Bekhter, but has received no response.

Russian occupation courts regularly convict elderly Ukrainians of financially supporting the Ukrainian army, and hand them double-digit prison terms.

In July, Vitaliy Ilyin, 63, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. In September, Natalya Nadeina, 69, received the same sentence. In August, a 74-year-old woman was sentenced to 14 years in a penal colony; almost nothing is known about her.