Iryna Danylovych
Detained: April 29, 2022.
Charges: Illegal actions with explosive substances.
Sentence: Seven years in prison and a fine of 50,000 Rubles.
Biography: Iryna Danylovych (also sometimes Danilovich or Danilovych) is a resident of Vladyslavivka (near Feodosia) and worked as a nurse in Koktebel, Crimea. She took up citizen journalism as a way to publish anonymously on the rights of medical workers under Russian occupation. She was abducted by four plainclothes Russian security agents. At the same time, her house was searched and equipment was taken. For 13 days, no one knew of her whereabouts; it was later discovered that she was polygraph-tested, threatened, and given food only once per day as torture. She faces up to eight years' imprisonment and up to 110,000 Russian rubles in fines. Her case has not yet gone to trial.
Advocacy Partner: PEN America
Past Advocate: Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ, Ret.)
Updates:
- On December 28, 2022, Iryna Danylovych was sentenced to seven years in prison and a fine of 50,000 Rubles for “illegally purchasing and storing explosives” (January 10, 2023, FIDH).
- Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) released a statement on March 18, 2023, calling for the release of all 14 Crimean Journalists in the Defending Freedoms Project, including Danylovich (March 18, 2023, Senate Foreign Relations Committee).
- On March 22, 2023, Danylovych announced that she had begun a "dry hunger strike" to protest being denied medical treatment for her declining health conditions, including a possible stroke. In response, the Delegation of the EU to Ukraine called for her to be given immediate medical assistance (March 22, 2023, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; March 24, 2023 Ukrainska Pravda).
- After recieving a promise to take her to a hospital for medical treatment, Danylovych ended her hunger strike on April 6, 2023. Her lawyer was able to visit on April 5, and has stated that she is still experiencing "ear pain, dizziness, and headache[s]" (April 6, 2023, Institute for Mass Information).
- On April 17, 2023 Russian authorities announced that an appeal hearing for Iryna Danylovych was scheduled for May 2, 2023 in the Higher Court in Crimea (April 21, 2023, Front Line Defenders).
- During her appeal hearing on May 2, 2023, the Higher Court of Crimea ruled to return the case to the Feodocia City Court as "Danylovych did not have a fair opportunity to analyse her casefiles" before her sentencing (May 5, 2023, Front Line Defenders).
- On June 1, 2023, the Higher Court of Crimea announced that Danylovych was scheduled for an appeal hearing on June 15, 2023 to review her seven year prison sentence (June 7, 2023, Front Line Defenders).
- On June 15, 2023 the European Court of Human Rights accepted an appeal regarding the unlawful detention of Iryna Danylovych. The appeal had been filed in January 2023 (June 15, 2023, Institute for Mass Information).
- On August 14, 2023, it was reported that Iryna Danylovych had been transferred to a penal colony in the Stavropol Krai region of Russia. According to her father, she was not permitted to bring necessary medications with her during the transfer (August 14, 2023, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty).
- On August 21, 2023, nine human rights organizations called for Iryna Danylovych to be immediately released without conditions, for her to be allowed to return to Ukraine, and for her to be provided with "timely and quality medical care as long as she remains in government custody" (August 21, 2023, Human Rights Watch). A similar statement was published by a group of four organizations that work to promote media freedom in Europe on August 25 (August 25, 2023, Article19).
- During his remarks at the Third Summit of the International Crimea Platform, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for the release of Iryna Danylovych, Nariman Celal, Vladyslav Yesypenko, and Server Mustafayev (August 23, 2023, Ukrinform).
- On September 7, 2023, 25 press freedom organizations highlighted the case of Iryna Danylovych in a letter calling for further measures to protect Ukrainian journalists by international mechanisms (September 7, 2023, European Federation of Journalists).
- The World Organization Against Torture highlighted the case of Iryna Danylovich in an article detailing her case published on September 19, 2023 (September 19, 2023, World Organization Against Torture).