A woman from Crimea has been placed in a pre-trial detention centre over a case concerning “military disinformation.”

38-year-old Crimea resident Ekaterina Fomenko has been placed in pre-trial detention on criminal charges of “spreading fakes” about the Russian army (Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code), reports the “Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial” project.

The pre-trial restriction measure for Fomenko was imposed on 7 July. Criminal proceedings were initiated against her because of posts on social media, but the content of those posts remains unknown, human rights defenders said.

At present, the woman from Crimea is being held in Simferopol SIZO-1.

On 7 July, the Ministry of Internal Affairs department for Sevastopol reported the arrest of a 38-year-old female Sevastopol resident over “fakes” about the Russian army. Based on indirect information, it appears this referred to Fomenko.

The press release claims that the woman for a long time posted comments containing false information about the actions of Russian military in Ukraine in pro-Ukrainian chats, discredited the government and president of Russia, and incited hatred on the basis of race and nationality.

“The woman repeatedly publicly expressed her positive emotions about air raid alerts in the city’s territory in chats, openly showing her joy,” the release said.

The Ministry noted that the detained woman was originally from Sevastopol, but had lived in Kyiv for an extended period before returning to the peninsula in 2017 to obtain a Russian passport and claim an inheritance.

The Ministry also published a video in which one of the law enforcement officers, in a service vehicle, asks her whether she understands why she has been detained and asks what kind of activity she carries out online.

—None.

—What kind of information do you post there?

—None.

—So you don’t post information promoting Ukraine?

—No, I absolutely do not do that.

—OK, we will now explain everything to you, show you, and have a conversation with you.

The Ministry also published screenshots of some of her comments: “Here in Crimea [redacted], more and more people hate you),” “F*** off to the front, you armchair worm. [redacted] check it,” “Hypocrites, you can’t trust ‘katsaps’* .and they raped and killed ours,” “I’m no one’s, I’m for Ukraine. You’re trying to brainwash people into giving everything up—their house to the Buryats, their mother to [redacted], but you’re so [redacted] and sucking up to the ‘liberators,’ maybe they’ll throw you a bone.”

At that time, the Ministry stated that protocols had been drawn up against the detainee for discrediting the army and inciting hatred.

On 26 May, Lenin District Court in Sevastopol fined Fomenko 45,000 roubles (about US$500) under the article on discrediting the army (Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code) because of comments she made in a Telegram channel about the war in Ukraine. In court, Fomenko admitted guilt and said that because of these comments she had to quit her job.

According to the court ruling, in one case the woman commented on a post about the potential outcome of the war: “It’s possible. They just aren’t choking ‘Rashka’ enough, not plugging up all the ways around the sanctions, not enough weapons and action.” Under another post she wrote: “If the Rashists had got into Kyiv in 2022, there would have been mass disappearances, killings and filtering, just like in the occupied territories now. They would have taken whatever they wanted, got rich, they never wanted negotiations,” “Even if there are talks, it’s only to buy time and rebuild the army so they can take all of Ukraine, I don’t trust the ‘Russnya,’ you can only drive them out by cunning and with the most powerful weapons.”

Additionally, on 26 June the same court fined Fomenko 12,000 roubles (about US$130) under a protocol for inciting hatred (Article 20.3.1 of the Administrative Code) over a post on VKontakte concerning the war in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia. Experts found in the post a negative assessment of certain people “due to their origin, territory of residence (people of the Mongoloid race and residents of the territory of China).” On the court website, there is a card for another case against Fomenko also for inciting hatred, for which the decision has not been published. According to the Ministry’s press release, she was fined another 12,000 roubles (about US$130) under that case.