Crimea Behind Bars: Public Talk with the Kremlin Prisoner Leniye Umerova - Instytut Pileckiego

Join us for an important event in Berlin dedicated to the ongoing repressions in Russian-occupied Crimea with special guest Leniye Umerova.

What happens when telling the truth becomes a crime?

In occupied Crimea, this question is not rhetorical — it defines daily life. Thousands of people have been detained, silenced, or disappeared simply for expressing dissent or holding on to their Ukrainian identity. The human cost of Russia’s ongoing occupation has become a quiet crisis, playing out in prison cells and courtrooms far from international view.

Crimea Behind Bars: Public Talk with Kremlin Prisoner Leniye Umerova

18.06, 18.00 | Pariser Platz 4A, 10117 Berlin | Registration: https://forms.gle/DkKoQ8N1yNZXoDaG8

The event will be held in English and Ukrainian (with translation).

More than a decade after the illegal annexation of Crimea, stories like Umerova’s are reminders of the real cost of occupation: young lives torn apart, families separated, justice distorted.

This evening is an opportunity to understand those costs — not through statistics or policy briefs, but through lived experience. It is a call to bear witness, to stand in solidarity, and to reaffirm that silence in the face of repression is not an option.

 

“Political positions may shift, but for me and many Ukrainians, Crimea remains a part of Ukraine. That is non-negotiable.” – Leniye Umerova

Leniye Umerova – A Ukrainian of Crimean Tatar descent, Umerova was just 24 years old when she was abducted and imprisoned by Russian authorities while trying to visit her sick father in occupied Crimea. She spent 21 months in detention — much of it in solitary confinement — on fabricated espionage charges. Her story, told with clarity and quiet strength, sheds light on the violence of repression and the resilience of those who resist it.

“Some see Crimea as just a piece of land. I see people — people who risk their lives every day by simply remaining Ukrainian.”

Elvis Çolpuh – Human rights defender and founder of the Crimean Cultural Center “KERMEN” in Germany, will present a lecture titled: “Hybrid Genocide” – exploring the structural persecution of Crimean Tatars and the broader effort to erase Ukrainian identity in Crimea under Russian occupation.