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U.S. citizen Sarah Krivanek attends a court hearing in Ryazan, Russia, on November 10.
U.S. citizen Sarah Krivanek attends a court hearing in Ryazan, Russia, on November 10.

A Russian court has ordered the deportation of U.S. citizen Sarah Krivanek, who spent almost 11 months in detention in Russia on charges of assaulting her Russian partner.

A court in the city of Ryazan, some 200 kilometers southeast of Moscow, ruled on November 10 that Krivanek must be deported.

Earlier this week, Krivanek was moved from a prison to a holding cell in Ryazan to await the court's decision on her possible deportation after the end of a 15-month prison term she was handed for assaulting her partner.

Krivanek, who is from Fresno, California, was sentenced last year after she hit her partner, a Russian man, with a knife. The American insists she was defending herself in a domestic violence situation. The man sustained minor injuries.

Krivanek complained that her stay in the prison was harsh, leaving her at times "fearing for my life" because of bullying from inmates and mistreatment from prison guards.

Krivanek is one of two American women known to be imprisoned in Russia. The other is professional basketball star Brittney Griner, who was sentenced in August to nine years in prison on a drug possession charge.

Griner's lawyers said on November 9 that their client had been moved to an unspecified prison days earlier after a Russian court last month rejected her appeal.

The United States has said it is trying to negotiate Griner's release. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement her transfer to a penal colony was “another injustice layered on her ongoing unjust and wrongful detention," and U.S. President Joe Biden said he hopes Russian President Vladimir Putin will be more willing to negotiate Griner’s release now that the U.S. midterm elections are over.

Russia has sentenced several U.S. citizens to prison terms in recent years.

Last month, a court in Russia's western city of Voronezh sentenced former U.S. Marine Robert Gilman to 4 1/2 years in prison for attacking a police officer while drunk.

Paul Whelan, another former U.S. Marine, is serving 16 years in prison on espionage charges, which he denies.

In April, Russia and the United States swapped Trevor Reed for a Russian pilot convicted of drug smuggling. Reed, also a former U.S. Marine, was sentenced to nine years in prison after allegedly attacking police officers while drunk.

With reporting by Reuters and People
A woman with a child from Siversk look though the window of a bus during evacuation near Lyman, Donetsk region, in May.
A woman with a child from Siversk look though the window of a bus during evacuation near Lyman, Donetsk region, in May.

Amnesty International has accused Russia of committing war crimes, and "likely" crimes against humanity, through the forcible transfer and deportation of civilians from Ukraine.

The rights group said in a report issued on November 10 that Russian and Russia-imposed authorities forced civilians to go through an "abusive" screening process known as filtration, where some were arbitrarily detained, subject to torture or other ill-treatment, and separated from their children.

The report says it documented cases in which members of specific groups -- including children, the elderly, and people with disabilities -- were forcibly transferred to other Ukrainian regions controlled by Russian troops or unlawfully transferred to Russia.

In one case, a woman was separated from her 11-year-old son during filtration, detained, and not reunited with him, a clear violation of international humanitarian law.

WATCH: Olena Strukalyova says she was forced to remove her clothes and saw a man being brutally beaten at a Russian filtration camp, which civilians from occupied areas of Ukraine had to pass through before being taken to Russia. Ukraine estimates that 1.6 million of its citizens have been through these camps

Ukrainian Woman Recounts Beating, Humiliation At Russian Filtration Camp
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"Separating children from their families and forcing people hundreds of kilometers from their homes are further proof of the severe suffering Russia's invasion has inflicted on Ukraine's civilians," Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International's Secretary General said in a statement.

"Russia's deplorable tactic of forcible transfer and deportation is a war crime. Amnesty International believes this must be investigated as a crime against humanity."

Amnesty International said it has repeatedly called for occupying Russian troops and officials responsible for the full-scale aggression against Ukraine to be held accountable.

It also called on the world's governments to demand Russia stop the forcible transfer and arbitrary detention of civilians from Ukraine.

"Comprehensive accountability in Ukraine will require the concerted efforts of the UN and its organs, as well as initiatives at the national level pursuant to the principle of universal jurisdiction," Amnesty International said.

Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in late February.

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"Watchdog" is a blog with a singular mission -- to monitor the latest developments concerning human rights, civil society, and press freedom. We'll pay particular attention to reports concerning countries in RFE/RL's broadcast region.

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