Among the citizens illegally imprisoned by the occupiers in Crimea, there are also women who also resist the aggressor country and its occupation regime. Among them are Galina Dovgopola and Valeria Goldenberg.

Galina Dovgopola, a native of Bakhchisarai, lived in the village of Kacha near Sevastopol before her illegal arrest. After the occupation of the peninsula began, Galina persuaded her daughter and grandson to move to mainland Ukraine. Despite her venerable age, she was not afraid to openly condemn the occupation regime and talk about the persecution of her family by the occupiers.

The occupiers detained her in November 2019 and charged her with “high treason”. All the hearings of the occupation courts were held in secret, and the propaganda media called her a “secret spy”. The criminal sentence handed down by the Russian court was 12 years in a maximum security colony. During her illegal detention, Ms. Halyna lost a lot of weight, developed gastritis, and froze her toes during her deportation to a Russian prison. However, despite all this, she has the strength to joke and dreams of returning to her family.

The political prisoner writes letters telling how she is holding up: “Do not think that I am ‘grief-stricken’ here. No, I’m joking, I’m smiling. I shovel snow, clean up when I’m on duty. I draw, read, write. I have many friends among the prisoners and acquaintances of different nationalities. Everyone calls me “Ba”. I make the younger ones dress warmer in the cold.”

Although Valeria Goldenberg was born in Poltava, she lived in the Ukrainian Crimea for 17 years. Together with her (now deceased) father, they condemned the Russian occupation and were about to be forced to leave the peninsula. However, her father died a year later, and she was unable to leave her home and did not want to burden her daughter in Cherkasy.

Ms. Valeriia worked at the Titan plant as an electrician, and after retirement she lived in Sonyachna Dolyna near Sudak, sometimes visiting her daughter. After the start of the full-scale invasion, she was very worried about her family and friends on the mainland of Ukraine, and after the liberation of Kyiv region from the occupiers, she could not stand it and decided to take revenge.

The woman poured blood (chicken) and feces on the grave of a Russian soldier who died in late March 2022 as part of one of the Russian armed forces brigades. She did not deny her actions and immediately told the occupation forces what had happened. She was arrested on April 11, and soon after was illegally sentenced to 2.5 years in a penal colony. Her occupiers also deported her to the territory of the Russian Federation, to Dagestan.

You can write to these strong women personally, as well as to other Crimean political prisoners, to support them, tell them something funny, or ask their opinion on anything. We will pass on your letters to them. How to write – read here