Tatyana, a mother of three from Penza Oblast, received an eight-year penal colony sentence for sending 100 dollars to a refugee in 2018 after being deceived by her lawyer and an investigator into incriminating herself. Russian Presidential Council for Human Rights member Eva Merkacheva revealed the background of the case on August 11, 2026.
Tatyana met her husband Rinat when she was 17 years old, before he was convicted of violence and sentenced to 10 years in prison. They married inside the penal colony three years later, and Tatyana gave birth to three children. After his release, Rinat joined radical prisoners and was recruited to fight for militants in Syria.
Rinat later contacted Tatyana from Syria, stating he had been deceived and asking for help to return home. At his request, Tatyana went to the Federal Security Service in 2016, leading to a criminal case against Rinat for participation in a terrorist organization. Rinat was willing to serve prison time in Russia if brought back, but he subsequently went missing and was likely captured.
Refugee assistance and terrorism charges
While searching for her husband, Tatyana connected with Aisha, a Russian woman who had traveled to Syria to join her husband and ended up in a refugee camp. Aisha, who had two children, complained of hunger and asked Tatyana for 100 dollars, which equaled about 6,000 rubles in 2018. Tatyana transferred the money to the account of a camp guard who cashed relative transfers for a 10 percent fee.
Tatyana voluntarily told the FSB investigator handling Rinat's case about the transfer. Authorities then opened a terrorism financing case against her and added an extra episode involving 300 rubles that Tatyana had allegedly sent for a sick child's treatment using a short code from an advertisement.
According to Merkacheva, Tatyana said she was summoned to sign documents before the case went to the prosecutor's office. Tatyana said her lawyer advised her to sign without reading, telling her everything was fine. Upon seeing the number 300, Tatyana read the paper and discovered it claimed Aisha had requested money again and that Tatyana sent 300 rubles.
Deception and sentencing
Tatyana said she cried and asked the investigator why he included false information when he knew she had sent no additional funds. She said the investigator assured her it would change nothing, while her lawyer insisted cooperation was necessary. Believing promises of a suspended sentence, Tatyana incriminated herself.
Tatyana has served half of her eight-year sentence and has not been granted parole, leaving her daughters to grow up without her. Merkacheva cited Tatyana's experience as a warning against excess trust and naivety.
In a separate case, a court previously sentenced a 17-year-old resident of Belovo in Kemerovo Oblast to four years in a juvenile correctional colony for financing terrorism. The teenager had placed paid reactions under posts on a channel belonging to an organization banned in Russia.
