On 5 March 2026, Halyna Bekhter, 69, was sentenced to 11 years in a general regime penal colony for treason under Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code, for providing ‘financial help to the armed forces of a foreign state in activities aimed against the security of the Russian Federation’ – in other words making a donation to the Ukrainian army. It was claimed that Halyna Bekhter had used a Ukrainian mobile banking app in July 2023 to send money to Ukraine’s armed forces. Before her arrest, Bekhter had been living in the village of Plodorodne in Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia region. The treason charge indicates that she was compelled to accept Russian citizenship. The prosecution has since appealed the verdict, seeking to increase the sentence to sixteen years. Since her imprisonment, Bekhter has been experiencing a rapid deterioration in her mental and physical health at Simferopol Remand Prison No. 1.
Memorial has reported that Halyna Bekhter is believed to be developing dementia, alternating between periods of silence and confusion and unable to care for herself, she has been refusing food. Her cellmates are said to struggle to feed her and to have to hold her at the table to prevent her from wandering off. Her weight is described as critically low. According to those familiar with her condition, the deterioration began almost immediately after her imprisonment. As recently as summer 2025, no signs of dementia had been observed.
The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group has described Bekhter’s imprisonment as ‘a flagrant violation of international law which prohibits Russia from using its own legislation on occupied territory,’ and that this ‘is only compounded by the coercion used to force Ukrainians to take the Russian citizenship, then used as excuse for surreal treason charges.
“The independent human rights project ‘Political Prisoners. Memorial’ in accordance with international guidelines on the definition of the term ‘political prisoner’, finds that the criminal case against Halyna Bekhter is politically motivated and intended to consolidate and maintain those in currently in power [in Russia]. Her imprisonment was imposed in violation of her right to a fair trial and other rights and freedoms guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”
– Memorial, 24 May 2026
Write to Halyna Bekhter
The Russian penal system does not allow any messages to prisoners that are written in foreign languages, but Write to Russia is here to help you. To show your support for Halyna Bekhter please send your letter as an email to us at: le******************@********il.com. We’ll translate your letter into Russian and, depending on your request, either mail the translated letters on your behalf to Halyna Bekhter, or return the letters to you by email for posting in an envelope with addresses written in Russian. If we send the letter on your behalf, we ask that you compensate us for the cost of postage from the UK (currently £3.60 [$4.89; €4.17] for one letter). For suggestions on what to write to a political prisoner, click here. To learn more about our letter writing project, click here: Write to Russia.
You can write to Halyna Bekhter at the following address:
Russian Federation – 295006, Республика Крым, г. Симферополь, б-р Ленина, д. 4, ФКУ СИЗО-1 УФСИН России по Республике Крым и г. Севастополю, Бехтер Галина Григорьевна, 1957 г. р.
Important: Please note that this address is in Ukrainian territory occupied at present by the Russian Federation. To ensure that letters reach their recipients, it is necessary to use the address in line with Russian rules.
The persons unjustly imprisoned in Russia whose plight our project Write to Russia has highlighted to date can be found at this link:
