Kidnapped Ukrainian Woman in Chonhar Transferred to Mordovia Colony Known for Harsh Conditions

Ukrainian Anzhelika Demianenko, who was sentenced by the Russians for “espionage,” has been transferred to a women’s correctional colony in the settlement of Yavas in Mordovia.

Human rights activists emphasize that this facility is known for exhausting labor and cruel treatment of inmates.

According to Zmina, this was reported by the human rights initiative “Tribunal.”

Residents of the occupied Kherson region – Anzhelika Demianenko and her father Oleksiy – were detained back in 2023 at the Chonhar checkpoint. The family was attempting to leave the occupied territories, but during “filtration,” Russian security forces claimed they found “suspicious information” on their phones.

According to the Center for Investigative Journalism, Oleksiy Demianenko was held in the basement of a rural cultural center in the village of Odradivka, Henichesk district, after his detention. During his time there, officers from the Russian FSB visited him.

According to representatives of the Russian special services, Anzhelika was held in a detention facility in the village of Chonhar, which is subordinate to the occupation administration of the penal service in Kherson region.

The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office claims that the father allegedly collected and passed on information about the movements and locations of Russian troops and equipment to his daughter, who then transmitted this information to Ukrainian intelligence. The occupation court in Kherson sentenced Oleksiy Demianenko, a resident of Henichesk, to 14 years in prison, and his daughter Anzhelika to 10.5 years.

“Transferring civilians from occupied territory into the depth of the occupying country is prohibited under international humanitarian law and is considered a war crime,” emphasize human rights defenders from “Tribunal.”

The names of some individuals involved in the Demianenko family’s detention are already known. Anzhelika will be held in the Mordovia colony, which is managed by Vitaliy Perkhorovych and his deputy Vyacheslav Kimyaev.

Recall that Russian forces abducted Ihor Palamarchuk, a resident of Bilozerska, for the second time in August 2022. The man was initially transferred to occupied Crimea and from there to Taganrog. His current whereabouts are unknown.

Ukrainian international law experts Hyunduz Mamedov and Mykola Forsenko have openly appealed to the ICRC. In their view, while Russia systematically tortures and executes Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian captives, the International Committee of the Red Cross continues to remain silent. This inaction by the ICRC undermines the international legal order and effectively legitimizes war crimes, and therefore it should take measures in the Ukrainian case such as issuing a public statement and condemnation.