Branded Betrayer, Russian Female Activist Who Helped Ukraine Sentenced To 22 Years In Prison

JAKARTA - A Russian activist who helped gather humanitarian aid for Ukraine and evacuated Ukrainians from the war zone was sentenced to 22 years in prison on Friday by a Moscow military court.

Nadezhda Rossinskaya, also known as Nadin Geisler, runs a group called the Army of Beauties, which helps about 25,000 people in Russia-controlled Ukrainian territory in 2022-2023, according to The Moscow Times reports.

As reported by Reuters on Friday, June 20, authorities arrested Geisler in February 2024 and then charged him with treason and assisting terrorist activities on posts he said were made on Instagram calling for donations to the Ukrainian Azov Battalion.

Geisler denies wrongdoing. His lawyer said his client was not the author of the post, according to a transcript of the trial compiled by Mediazone, Russia's independent media.

Prosecutors previously demanded a 27-year prison sentence for Geisler, who is in his late 20s.

Mediazone reported that Geisler asked the court to imprison him for 27 years and one day, so his prison sentence could exceed Darya Trepova's sentence, a Russian woman jailed for sending a bomb that killed a pro-war blogger in 2023.

Trepova's sentence, handed down last year, is the longest sentence imposed on any woman in modern Russian history.

Prosecution of cases of terrorism, espionage and cooperation with foreign countries has risen sharply in Russia since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine more than three years ago.

Pervy Otdel, the Russian association of lawyers, said 359 people were convicted of the crime in 2024.