Detention: Security forces came for her in May 2025, seven days after her mother's funeral.

Sentence: On November 19, 2025, Niyara Ersmanbetova was sentenced for alleged collaboration with the military-partisan movement 'ATESH'. Charged under Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code ('State Treason'). She is in custody.

Niyara Memetivna Ersmanbetova was born on October 3, 1987 – a Ukrainian citizen, Crimean Tatar, resident of temporarily occupied Crimea. She is the wife of Crimean Tatar political prisoner Enver Ersmanbetov, detained by Russian security forces during mass searches on June 10, 2019, in the so-called 'second Simferopol Hizb ut-Tahrir case'. After her husband's arrest, Niyara was left alone with their children and actively engaged in community activities supporting families of illegally imprisoned Crimean Tatars. Due to her human rights activism, she faced repeated pressure, searches, summonses to security agencies, and persecution by the occupying authorities. Her name is frequently mentioned in reports by human rights organizations documenting repressions against the Crimean Tatar people.

After her husband's arrest, Niyara Ersmanbetova participated in the activities of the civic initiative 'Crimean Solidarity', supported other relatives of political prisoners, attended court hearings, and took part in human rights campaigns. This activity kept her under constant scrutiny by Russian security forces.

Following her detention, Niyara Ersmanbetova was held in Pre-trial Detention Centre No. 1 in Simferopol, where, according to human rights defenders and her family, she was kept in harsh conditions. She is the mother of two minor children, who were left in the care of their 70-year-old grandfather with a second-degree disability after her arrest. Human rights organizations emphasize that the detention occurred just a week after her mother's funeral, and the case was conducted entirely in closed sessions without independent oversight. The prosecution claimed that Ersmanbetova allegedly passed information about the location of a fuel depot and Russian air defense positions to the 'ATESH' movement, but no convincing evidence was publicly presented.

In April 2026, the Third Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction in Sochi upheld the unlawful sentence. In June 2026, it was reported that Niyara Ersmanbetova declared a hunger strike due to inhumane conditions in the detention center: she reported a malfunctioning toilet in her cell, deteriorating health, elevated blood sugar levels, and a rash on her body. Human rights defenders consider these conditions to potentially constitute cruel and inhumane treatment.

As of July 10, 2026, Niyara Ersmanbetova remains unlawfully imprisoned. Human rights organizations continue to demand her release, proper medical care, and an end to the practice of closed politically motivated trials in occupied Crimea.

Information used from open sources: Representation of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Human Rights Center ZMINA, Crimean Tatar Resource Center, Crimean Human Rights Group, Kharkiv Human Rights Group, Center for Investigative Journalism, Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial.

Photo: Crimean Tatar Resource Center.

Update date: 10.07.2026