Halya Coynash, 09 March 2026

Russia sentences 69-year-old Ukrainian pensioner to 11 years for sending money to Ukraine

These sentences, passed by fake 'courts', often with minimal or no hearings, seem aimed at terrorizing the population and convincing them that they are under total surveillance

Halyna Bekhter in the fake ’court’ Screenshot from the video circulated by the occupation ’court’

Russia’s repression on occupied territory knows few limits and no mercy. At least one Ukrainian in his seventies has died in Russian captivity over the past year, while an ever-increasing number of pensioners have been sentenced to terms of imprisonment which they would be extremely unlikely to survive. Most have been charged with ‘treason’, with many accused solely of having made donations to support Ukraine’s defenders.

On 5 March 2026, Halyna Bekhter (b. 1957) became the latest victim, being sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment for supposedly “financing the Ukrainian Armed Forces”. The 69-year-old pensioner from the village of Plodorodne in the Melitopol raion was convicted by ‘judge’ Valery Valerievich Zmeyev, a Russian citizen illegally deployed in Russia’s occupation ‘Zaporizhzhia regional court’ of ‘treason’ under Article 275 of Russia’s criminal code. Russia’s flagrant violation of international law which prohibits it from using its legislation on occupied territory is only compounded by the coercion used to force Ukrainians to take the Russian citizenship then used as excuse for surreal treason charges.

It was claimed that Halyna Bekhter had, in July 2023, used a Ukrainian mobile banking app to send money to Ukraine’s Armed Forces. This was alleged to have been “financial help to the armed forces of a foreign state in activities aimed against the security of the RF”.

This verbiage was roundly condemned by the respected Memorial Support for Political Prisoners Project when it recognized as political prisoners three other women - Olha Hulchak, Olena Penza and Yulia Stanika- accused over similar donations. It wrote that Russia’s persecution of Ukrainian citizens “on charges for treason against Russia, which attacked their country and violates their rights in occupation, is illegal and absurd. We furthermore consider that persecution under the article on state treason for financing Ukraine’s Army is, in principle, unfounded. It is the war of aggression launched by the authorities that threatens Russia’s security, not resistance to this aggression.”

The Ukrainian publication RIA-South cites local residents in reporting that elderly Ukrainians often merely transfer small amounts of money to their children or other relatives in government-controlled parts of Ukraine. This is ignored by those occupation structures carrying out surveillance of banking operations with any money transfer to a Ukrainian account, however symbolic, treated as ‘treason’ and even claimed to be ‘financing terrorism’.

Whether or not in a particular case the money transfer was for Ukraine’s defenders is largely immaterial and does not change the total cynicism and illegality of any such prosecution. Russia is very clearly demonstrating that all residents of occupied Ukraine are under surveillance, with any pro-Ukrainian views or contact with government-controlled Ukraine likely to get them targeted.

These are fake trials with convictions and long sentences guaranteed. Any hearings are behind closed doors, and it is very often the case that the first mention of any ‘trial’ is with the announcement, post-fact, of a sentence.

Other victims

74-year-old Oleksandr Markov

Russia kills 74-year-old Ukrainian political prisoner abducted from occupied Enerhodar

Svitlana Loi

Russia sentences 70-year-old pensioner from occupied Tokmak to 15 years for supporting Ukraine

Iryna Sukhodei

Russia passes huge sentences against 65-year-old Melitopol pensioner and two other Ukrainians for their patriotism

Olha Hulchak, Olena Penza and Yulia Stanika

Russia sentences three Ukrainian women to 12 years for supporting Ukraine’s defenders

Maryna Bilousova

Russia sentences 61-year-old Ukrainian to 12. 5 years for donation to Ukraine’s defenders

Lilia Kachkariova and Svitlana Dovhopola