ECHR accepts appeal on illegal detention of Crimean journalist Iryna Danylovych

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has accepted an appeal regarding the illegal detention of citizen journalist Iryna Danylovych in the annexed Crimea.

This was reported in June by the website Krym.Realii and the public organization KrymSOS with reference to Danylovych‘s lawyer, Serhii Zayets.

“It is the detention without drawing up a protocol or any registration of this fact, the detention without communication with the outside world, without access to a lawyer in the basement of the local FSB office… torture. All of that is a violation of basic human rights. At the same time, the Russian security forces tried to deny the fact of the violation, claiming that Iryna was with them voluntarily, of her own free will,” KrymSOS quotes Serhii Zayets.

According to him, this complaint is unlikely to affect Danylovych‘s position, but it may increase international pressure on the Russian Federation.

“The fact that Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe does not mean we should fold our hands. The struggle is important for those who suffer from Russian repression. Although this appeal will not affect Iryna‘s situation, the struggle is important for increasing international pressure, and sooner or later, Russia will be forced to respond to it,” the lawyer added.

As earlier reported, in January, the non-governmental organization KrymSOS filed a complaint with the ECHR regarding the illegal detention of citizen journalist Iryna Danylovych in the annexed Crimea.

Danylovych worked as a nurse and ran a page on social networks and several blogger columns dedicated to the rights of medical workers and problems in the healthcare sector on the annexed peninsula.

She was suspected of alleged illegal actions with explosives or explosive devices (Section 1 of Article 222.1 of the Criminal Code of Russia). Based on falsified circumstances, the FSB accused the journalist of manufacturing an explosive device with medical needles. As a result, the Russian court in Crimea sentenced the citizen journalist to seven years in prison.

The NUJU demands that the charges against her be dropped, and she be set free.

The Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea initiated criminal proceedings on illegal searches and detention of Iryna Danylovych. Ukrainian non-governmental organizations demand the release of the civil activist.

NUJU Information Service