Today, April 29, is the day when nurse and citizen journalist Iryna Danylovych was abducted by Russians in occupied Crimea two years ago.

In April 2022, occupation security forces abducted Iryna, when she was coming home from the night shift in a hospital she worked at. At the same time, the occupiers illegally searched her house.

It has been over a week since anyone has been in contact with Irina. She was taken into custody illegally by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation and subjected to physical force and psychological pressure.

We were looking for her for about 12 days. Until we found out that she was transferred to a pre-trial detention center: she is being held there. The court ordered her arrest for 2 months, for what reasons and how we did not know at that time,

said Iryna Danylovych’s father.

Later, the occupants informed Iryna’s family that she was charged with allegedly “transferring classified materials to another country”. Subsequently, a “case” was fabricated against the citizen journalist on charges of allegedly “illegal actions with explosives”. The “arrest warrant” was issued by the occupation “court” during a closed court session: in the absence of listeners, Iryna’s relatives, and journalists. In December 2022, the occupiers sentenced Iryna Danylovych to 7 years in prison. Citizen journalist Iryna Danylovych worked as a nurse and ran a social media page and several blog columns on the rights of healthcare workers and healthcare issues on the occupied peninsula. Her activities led to her persecution.

In July 2023, Iryna was illegally convoyed to the Krasnodar Women’s Correctional Colony No. 7 in the Russian Federation. Danylovych wrote in her letters that her health was worsening after she was transferred. She had started losing hearing in one ear. The occupiers didn’t allow her to take the necessary medications, which resulted in her suffering from headaches and earaches.

In February 2024, it was reported again about the worsening of the conditions of detention in prison and the state of health of Iryna Danylovych. At the last court hearing, she hardly heard any questions. All requests for qualified medical care were ignored. 

It is worth noting that the rules in the colony allow for the presence of medications. However, the administration denied Danylovych permission to keep them with her. If appropriate measures are not taken, the activist faces a possible complete loss of hearing.

Danylovych wrote in one of her letters.

In pre-trial detention centers, as in ordinary life, there is a special category of people who elevate themselves above any law in their unlimited power. If there is an upstart who decides that he has some rights, there is a very simple way to silence him: it is enough to ignore all his appeals,

Poor conditions of detention are one of the elements of pressure used by the Russian occupiers against every Ukrainian political prisoner. And until Russia’s aggression is ended, the abuse of our citizens will not stop.

We urge the international community to respond to the criminal actions of the Russian Federation and increase pressure on the aggressor state, which openly ignores all norms of International Humanitarian Law.