Today, 6 May, marks the birthday of Iryna Danylovych — a Ukrainian citizen journalist, human rights defender, and one of many Ukrainian nationals unlawfully imprisoned by Russia for their civic engagement and principled stance.
Iryna Danylovych was born in 1979 in Belarus, and later her family relocated to Crimea. By profession, she is a nurse and worked at a rehabilitation centre in Koktebel. Following the occupation of Crimea in 2014, she became actively involved in civic life on the peninsula. Her work combined healthcare with journalism and human rights advocacy.
Iryna publicly highlighted violations of the rights of medical workers, including the non-payment of wages for those treating patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. She led the independent media project Crimean Medicine Uncovered and collaborated with the human rights initiative Crimean Process, documenting politically motivated cases in Crimea.
On 29 April 2022, Iryna Danylovych was abducted by officers of the Russian FSB. For eight days, she was held incommunicado and without legal status — in a basement, where she was subjected to psychological pressure, polygraph interrogations, and degrading treatment. Later, she was charged with “possessing explosives” — a fabricated accusation — and sentenced to seven years in prison. According to her father, Bronislav Danylovych, the real reasons of her detention were different:
“Yes, they later planted explosives on her, but the real reasons for her abduction and further persecution were two: the court cases Iryna covered truthfully, and her fight against corruption in the healthcare system.”
Iryna Danylovych is currently being held in Penal Colony No. 7 in the city of Zelenokumsk, Stavropol Krai, Russia. Her conditions of detention are inhumane: unsanitary environment, psychological pressure, denial of medical care, and restrictions on correspondence and phone calls. Her health has seriously deteriorated — she has lost hearing in one ear, suffers from constant pain, and is suspected to have an inner ear infection. Despite this, she has not received adequate medical attention. According to human rights defenders, she is denied access to essential medication, and the medical care available in the colony is practically nonexistent. To draw attention to her situation, Danylovych declared a dry hunger strike. She temporarily ended her protest after the detention center’s administration promised to provide a medical examination.
Today, on her birthday, Ukraine calls on the international community to exert unified pressure on the Russian Federation, demanding the release of Iryna Danylovych and all Ukrainian citizens who are being held for political reasons.