Moscow court rejects appeal by pensioner convicted over donations to Ukrainian Armed Forces; she sings Ukrainian song

A Moscow appeals court has upheld the sentence of 70-year-old Zaporizhzhia Oblast woman Svitlana Loi, who was sentenced earlier this year for donating money to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Before the judge read out the ruling, Loi began singing Pisnia pro rushnyk (Song About the Towel), a beloved Ukrainian song based on a poem by poet Andrii Malyshko and dedicated to a mother's love and blessing.

Source: Russian media outlet Mediazona

Details: The appeal hearing was held behind closed doors. Journalists and members of the public were allowed into the courtroom only for the announcement of the ruling.

Svitlana Loi was born in 1956 and lived in Tokmak, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, which Russia occupied in 2022. In December 2023, she obtained a Russian passport but did not renounce her Ukrainian citizenship.

Russian authorities claim that between January and November 2024, she regularly transferred money to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces using the mobile app of a Ukrainian bank.

Loi is alleged to have made 24 transfers totalling more than RUB 63,000 (approximately US$760). She made the donations from her Ukrainian pension.

The Russian occupation authorities accused Loi of "holding anti-Russian views" and "treason" under Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code. In February, a Russian-controlled court sentenced her to 15 years in a penal colony.

Loi spent her 70th birthday in a cell at Simferopol Detention Centre No. 1. In letters to human rights advocate Daria Kostromina, she said that after the verdict was announced, she decided to appeal because, in her words, her testimony had been misrepresented in the court record.

Ahead of the appeal hearing, Loi did not have high hopes of a favourable ruling but had not given up hope of a miracle. In her letters, she said it was important for her to know that she had "done everything possible".

Svitlana's husband, who is 83 and has health problems, remains at home alone.

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