Imprisoned Crimean citizen journalist Iryna Danylovych may lose her hearing – doctor

Doctors believe that Iryna Danylovych may lose her hearing due to the lack of medical assistance. She also does not have the opportunity to study the case materials.

As Ievhen Yaroshenko, an analyst of the KrymSOS [Crimea S.O.S.] human rights organization, told the journalists representing the Crimean Solidarity non-governmental organization, after the medical examination of Iryna Danylovych, which she obtained from the Russian guards in the detention center as a result of a dry hunger strike, the doctor confirmed that the Crimean citizen journalist might lose her hearing due to non-provision of medical assistance.

“KrymSOS became aware that Iryna Danylovych recently had the opportunity to undergo a short medical examination. Previously, the doctor confirmed hearing problems and the need for additional examinations. The probability that Iryna Danylovych may lose her hearing due to the lack of timely medical assistance is 50%,” Yaroshenko said.

The Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea initiated criminal proceedings on the fact of illegal searches and detention of Iryna Danylovych. And the public organizations of Crimea and Ukraine, including the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), demand the release of the civil activist.

Earlier, Iryna Danylovych‘s father, Bronislav Danylovych, said in a comment for the Krym.Realii website that his daughter’s health remains unsatisfactory; she continues complaining of constant headaches and problems with hearing and coordination of movements. He claims that the Russian judge protracted, giving a permit for the medical examination of the journalist.

Danylovych announced a dry hunger strike on March 21. Thus, the journalist decided to protest against the fact that she was not provided with medical care in the Simferopol Pre-Trial Detention Center. Only a few days later, the authorities of the pre-trial detention center allowed her to undergo a medical examination. Later, it became known that the convicted citizen journalist had stopped her hunger strike.

However, in the meantime, the Crimean Russian court limited Iryna Danylovych‘s access to her criminal case materials, which she could not study sufficiently due to illness and lack of medical assistance. The judge of the city court of Feodosia under Russian control, Nataliya Kulinska, decided to consider the familiarization process finished and referred the criminal case to the appeals court on April 7. The date of consideration of the appeal against the sentence has not yet been set.

Thus, citizen journalist Iryna Danylovych was illegally restricted from having access to the minutes of court hearings in her criminal case and preparing objections to them.

As earlier reported, the communication with Iryna Danylovych was disrupted in Koktebel on the morning of April 29, 2022. 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 journalists filed a falsified accusation of “illegal actions with explosive substances or explosive devices (Section 1 of Article 222.1 of the Criminal Code of Russia).” It was reported that the FSB allegedly discovered an explosive device with medical needles in a glasses case with Iryna Danylovych.

Iryna Danylovych claims that the device was thrown into her bag at a time when it was being searched without her presence.

On this charge, the Russian court in Crimea sentenced citizen journalist and nurse Iryna Danylovych to seven years in prison. The sentence has not yet entered into legal force; this will happen after the decision of the appeals court, the session of which has not yet been scheduled.

Danylovych worked as a nurse and maintained a social media page and several blogger columns dedicated to the rights of medical workers and health care problems on the annexed peninsula.

NUJU Information Service