Civil journalist from Crimea Iryna Danylovych announces hunger strike

Civil journalist and nurse Iryna Danylovych, sentenced in Crimea to seven years in a colony, announced a hunger strike until she received normal medical treatment or until her death. She took this step “as a sign of protest against the abuse by the pre-trial detention center administration due to the non-provision of medical aid.”
This was reported by a correspondent of the Krym.Realii site (a Radio Liberty project).

In a special statement on this occasion, she noted that she had not been able to obtain the necessary medical assistance from the administration of the Russian detention center for four months. The journalist also notes that she suffered a micro stroke in prison and has hearing problems. In this state, she has no opportunity to familiarize herself with the case materials.

The NUJU repeatedly informed about the unsatisfactory state of health of Iryna Danylovych and demanded the release of the illegally convicted civil journalist.

“Ignoring my illness, constant transportation from Simferopol to Feodosia, and failure to provide medical care are inhuman abuses; it contradicts all the principles of humanity and can be equated to torture! I demand you stop mocking me and announce a dry hunger strike,” Iryna Danylovych said.

Her father, Bronislav Danylovych, also confirmed that the journalist went on a hunger strike and that her life was in danger. “She complains a lot about the terrible headaches that have haunted her during the last five months of her detention in the pre-trial detention center… For almost five months, she has not been able to reach the medics of the pre-trial detention center with a request for help… In fact, for five months, she has been subjected to the most terrible torture, namely torture with pain,” Bronislav Danylovych told journalists.

Representatives of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia did not comment on the statements of Danylovych and her relatives.

As earlier reported, Iryna Danylovych stopped communicating on the morning of April 29, 2022, in Koktebel. At the same time, the Russian FSB officers searched the house where she lived without her participation. According to the search results, all the phones of Danylovych’s parents were confiscated, and for several days, they could not inform anyone about what had happened.

The journalist was suspected of illegal actions with explosive substances or devices based on falsified charges (Section 1 of Article 222.1 of the Criminal Code of Russia). It was reported that the FSB of Russia accused Iryna Danylovych of manufacturing an explosive device with medical needles.

A Russian court in Crimea sentenced civil journalist and nurse Iryna Danylovych to seven years in prison. Iryna Danylovych worked as a nurse and maintained a page on social networks and several blogger columns dedicated to the rights of medical workers and health care problems on the annexed peninsula.

The Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea initiated criminal proceedings on illegal searches and detention of Iryna Danylovych. And public organizations in Ukraine demanded the release of civil activist Iryna Danylovych.

NUJU information service

Photo: zmina.info