In 2024, the invaders intensified repressions against Ukrainian women: who is in captivity in Russia

Oksana Senezhuk, 58, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for her Ukrainian position, the longest sentence among women. She is among at least 17 Ukrainian women in Russian captivity. In 2024, repressions against women in the occupied territories intensified dramatically.

This was reported by the chairman of the board of the Crimean Human Rights Group Olga Skrypnyk during a briefing, UNN reports .

All cases of persecution in the occupied territories of Ukraine involve women.

Women are also in captivity in Russia. Among them are women from Crimea, today it is Iryna Danilovych, she was an activist, actively involved in highlighting human rights violations in Crimea. She was a doctor herself. Accordingly, she devoted a lot of time to covering the violations during the pandemic in Crimea, how Russia was essentially killing our people without providing them with medical care. And in 2022, she became a prisoner of the Kremlin herself. She is now in Russia. Galina Dovgopola, who will soon turn 70, is also still behind bars. She has a terrible sentence of 12 years. She is serving it in a Russian colony, and she is from Sevastopol

According to her, 2024 was a year of increased persecution of women. As at least three new cases were documented in August and September alone, three women were prosecuted in Sevastopol alone, and one of them was convicted in December - Oksana Senezhuk.

She received 15 years in prison solely for her Ukrainian position. And I would like to emphasize here that 15 years is the longest sentence we know of among women who have been sentenced to prison. Actually, she is 58 years old

Since 2014, Senejuk has always taken an active and open Ukrainian position, participating in the Ukrainian resistance actions of 2014. This was the reason for her persecution. She was summoned for interrogation back in 2022, and in 2024 she was sentenced to a prison term. There are also women from Zaporizhzhia and Kherson region who were in Crimea illegally, including Irina Gorobtsova, who was sentenced to a term, Anna Yeltsova, a 24-year-old student, and other women.

According to our data, we have identified at least 17 civilian women who are currently in Russian captivity. These women are either from Crimea, Kherson region or Zaporizhzhia, they are exclusively civilians. Some of them are in a very vulnerable state, some need medical care, some have serious illnesses, including oncology. For security reasons, since their relatives are in the occupied territory, we cannot name all of them, but we have fully identified these 17 civilian women. And, unfortunately, we realize that the only chance for their release is through exchanges

Recall

Russia does not recognize the detention of 24 Ukrainians taken from southern Ukraine to Crimean detention centers. Overall, in 2024, at least 250 Ukrainian citizens are imprisoned for political persecution.