Russian security forces kidnapped 24-year-old Crimean woman Hatice Buyukchan on 6 May, later accusing her of treason, the Crimean Tatar Resource Centre reported on 14 July.
According to human rights activists, that morning the girl left Stary Krym for Simferopol by bus, after which she stopped communicating. Her phone was turned off, and her whereabouts remained unknown for more than two months. Only 69 days later, Russian media published an FSB video with a blurred face of the detainee, which talks about her detention.
As the centre notes, all this time, Buyukchan was likely held in FSB torture chambers, where she could have been subjected to pressure, threats, and psychological influence.
On 14 July, Russian media reported the detention in Crimea of a girl who allegedly planned to blow up one of the senior officers of the Russian Ministry of Defence.
The Russian-controlled Leninsky District Court of Sevastopol has arrested Buyukchan for two months. Criminal cases have been opened against her under Articles 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Terrorist Act”) and 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“High Treason”).
Olga Skrypnyk, the head of the board of the Crimean Human Rights Group (KHRG), noted that in Crimea, over the past year, Russian security forces have intensified the persecution of women who participate in actions against the Russian occupation of the peninsula.
According to CrimeaSOS, at least 56 Crimeans were persecuted by the Russian authorities in 2024. The grounds for the criminal cases were accusations of alleged ties to organisations banned in the Russian Federation, treason, espionage, public statements, organising sabotage, or calls for violence.
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