Detention: March 22, 2025, Olha was accused of 'treason'.

Sentence: As of July 17, 2026, no sentence has been issued. Olha Behei remains in custody. The Russian side charges her under Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ('treason'). Human rights defenders emphasize that the case shows signs of politically motivated persecution of a Ukrainian citizen.

Olha Olehivna Behei is a Ukrainian citizen residing in Yevpatoria. Before her detention, she lived with her family in the temporarily occupied Crimea. She is known to be the mother of two children: a daughter, Alisa, and a son, Ruslan. At the time of her arrest, her daughter was 11 years old, and her son was 7 years old.

There is limited biographical information about Olha Behei available in open sources. This is because her case became public only in the spring of 2025, and the family was not public before the persecution by Russian security forces began. Human rights defenders note that such practices are common against residents of occupied territories who are detained on politically motivated charges.

On the night of March 21-22, 2025, Russian security forces conducted a series of searches in the homes of a family that had moved to Crimea from Lviv before the peninsula's occupation. Following the searches, four family members were detained: Tetiana Maliar, Valentyn Maliar, Anatolii Rossikhin, and Olha Behei. Relatives were unaware of their whereabouts for a long time, and Russian security forces provided no official information about the detainees' fate.

Human rights defenders expressed particular concern about Olha Behei's situation, as her detention left two young children without their mother. Representatives of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People and Ukrainian human rights organizations have repeatedly emphasized the humanitarian consequences of such actions by the occupying authorities for the children and families of political prisoners.

It was only after some time that it became known that the detainees were held in Pre-trial Detention Centre No. 2 in Simferopol. According to human rights defenders, all four family members were charged with 'treason'. The Russian side does not publicly disclose details of the charges. Independent lawyers and human rights organizations have limited access to the case materials, complicating public oversight of the detainees' rights.

Human rights organizations point out that since the start of the full-scale war, Russia has significantly intensified the practice of criminal prosecution of Ukrainian citizens under the treason article. Such charges are especially common in temporarily occupied territories, where people are effectively deprived of the opportunity to receive independent judicial protection.

As of July 2026, Olha Behei remains in custody. There is no information in open sources about the case being transferred to court or a sentence being issued. Ukrainian human rights organizations and the Office of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea include her in lists of Ukrainian citizens unlawfully detained by the Russian Federation for political reasons.

Olha Behei's case has become another example of the persecution of Ukrainian civilians in occupied territories. Human rights defenders call on the international community to increase attention to her case and seek the release of all unlawfully detained Ukrainian citizens.

Information used from open sources: Crimean Tatar Resource Center, Crimean Human Rights Group, Radio Liberty, Krym.Realii, 'Lviv Direct Speech', 'Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial'.

Date updated: 17.07.2026