Iryna Danylovych used to work as a nurse in Crimea, defend the rights of healthcare workers and report on politically motivated trials. Today, she is held at Penal Colony No. 7 in Zelenokumsk, Stavropol Krai, Russia, and has lost hearing in her left ear, according to rights organisations. On October 21, 2026, her sister Olha Novytska read a new letter from her at a press conference: Danylovych said loud music and other persistent noise caused her severe pain every day, while the prison administration failed to respond effectively to her complaints. She once fought for other people's access to healthcare. Now she is struggling to obtain adequate treatment for herself.
Reporting on the healthcare system she knew from within
Born on May 6, 1979, Danylovych worked as a nurse, including at a rehabilitation centre in Koktebel. Her activism began with the everyday concerns of colleagues: workloads, pay, working conditions and the difficulty of getting officials to listen. She ran an independent project, Crimean Medicine Without a Cover, to document the problems faced by healthcare professionals on the peninsula, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020, she headed the Crimean branch of the Alliance of Doctors union. She also worked with the independent outlet INzhir Media and Crimean Process, an initiative covering politically motivated proceedings in Crimea. Her reporting included the treatment of Crimean Tatar activists. Journalism and human rights work were not separate pursuits for Danylovych: both involved giving a public voice to people whose complaints were being ignored.
Following Russia's annexation of Crimea, she participated in the Ukrainian Cultural Centre's activities and helped run a small library in Feodosia. Russian security officers had questioned her years before her arrest. In 2016, she and other activists were questioned after a trip to mainland Ukraine. Danylovych said that in 2017 officers pressured her to become an informant and threatened to challenge the validity of her Ukrainian passport. Her professional and civic work is documented by Front Line Defenders and other rights organisations.
Disappearing on the way home from a night shift
On the morning of April 29, 2022, Danylovych went missing while travelling home after work in Koktebel. It later became clear that Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officers had taken her away. Her relatives and lawyer searched detention facilities for more than a week. Her father obtained security-camera footage showing her being detained near a petrol station. Her lawyer was finally able to locate her at the Simferopol remand centre on May 11.
Danylovych testified that she had been held for days in the basement of an FSB building without a lawyer, subjected to threats of death and physical violence, and questioned about the Alliance of Doctors, independent journalists and other activists. She said officers forced her to record a statement denying that she had been mistreated. Rights organisations documented her testimony and the defence's account of the incident. FACTUM has not independently established every alleged act of abuse; the significance of these accounts lies in the serious and longstanding questions they raise about her detention and treatment.
The authorities ultimately accused her of unlawfully possessing explosives under Part 1 of Article 222.1 of the Russian Criminal Code. FSB officers claimed to have found the material in a glasses case; Danylovych denied the accusation and said it had been planted. On December 28, 2022, a court in Feodosia sentenced her to seven years in a general-regime penal colony and a fine of 50,000 rubles. An appeal in June 2023 reduced the prison term by only one month, to six years and eleven months.
Memorial's political prisoners support project formally recognised Danylovych as a political prisoner in February 2023 and called for her release. It links the prosecution to her independent journalism, union activity and civic work, and characterises her detention and the criminal proceedings as involving grave violations of her rights.
A nurse left without the treatment she needed
While held on remand, Danylovych developed a serious ear infection. She repeatedly reported worsening pain, ringing and hearing loss. According to her family and rights groups, she was denied the treatment she needed. In March 2023, she began a hunger strike demanding medical attention. She ended it after promises of an examination; relatives later said the necessary treatment still had not been provided.
Amnesty International mounted an international campaign for her release and access to medical care in 2023, warning of the risk of permanent hearing loss. Reports of inadequate care continued after she was transferred to Penal Colony No. 7 in Zelenokumsk. In February 2026, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center said she had completely lost hearing in her left ear. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also documented accounts of persistent headaches, tinnitus, heart complaints and symptoms reportedly associated with a minor stroke in detention. These medical reports are based on information from Danylovych, relatives and advocates; her complete clinical records are not publicly available.
In January 2026, Danylovych told relatives she was living with constant headaches and buzzing or ringing in her ears. For a person experiencing such symptoms, persistent loud sound can become a source of intense distress. Yet her family says her repeated requests for relief have gone unanswered.
October 21: A letter describing relentless noise
On October 21, 2026, Danylovych's sister Olha Novytska spoke at a press conference titled “The Price of Truth: How Russia Persecutes Journalists in Occupied Crimea.” She read a letter describing music beginning early in the morning, continuing on television and over loudspeakers for far longer than the prison's published schedule allowed. Danylovych compared the effect of sharp, repeated sounds to persistent physical pain. She also described loud music in the prison yard and at weekends.
She alleged that two other inmates had been allowed to use radios and play loud music despite prison restrictions on private receivers. In her letter, Danylovych described feeling unable to escape the noise. Novytska said the authorities' written replies to her complaints simply reported that no violations had been found. The Ukrainian publication ZMI dlia zmin reported on the press conference and the letter.
The October account is part of a longer series of complaints. In July 2026, rights monitors relayed the family's reports of loud music playing for many hours each day. In September, RFE/RL's Crimea.Realities quoted Crimean Human Rights Group chair Olha Skrypnyk on a further source of noise: a private radio allegedly operated by another prisoner. Allegations that these conditions were imposed deliberately come from Danylovych, her relatives and human rights defenders. No independently substantiated official investigation resolving the complaints has been found.
Campaigning for healthcare and freedom from detention
Danylovych's relatives continue to demand adequate medical care and an end to mistreatment. In July 2025 she appealed to European Parliament Vice-President Pina Picierno, asking her to draw attention to forms of abuse that, she said, left no visible marks. Picierno later publicly voiced support for the imprisoned journalist.
In May 2026, CrimeaSOS reported that the European Court of Human Rights had begun considering two complaints brought by Danylovych, concerning her deprivation of liberty and inclusion in Russia's “foreign agent” register. The beginning of consideration should not be confused with a final ruling. In June, Reporters Without Borders and the Human Rights Foundation referred her case to six UN special rapporteurs, seeking action over her detention and safety. By October 21, the organisations had not reported a substantive response to that appeal.
Front Line Defenders, Amnesty International, Memorial, CPJ and Ukrainian rights groups have highlighted her case as part of the pressure on citizen journalists and human rights defenders in occupied Crimea. International attention does not replace medical treatment, but it brings scrutiny to the prison authorities' obligations towards a person in their custody.
What is known now
As of October 22, 2026, Danylovych remains in Penal Colony No. 7 in Zelenokumsk, serving a term of six years and eleven months imposed by the Russian courts. The newest publicly documented account of her circumstances is the letter read by her sister on October 21. It describes continuing painful noise and an absence of meaningful relief. No verified subsequent medical examination or change in her conditions has been reported.
Her detention location appears in the records of Memorial and in FACTUM's index of persecuted journalists. Anyone considering sending correspondence should check the facility details against the current public person record. Before prison, Danylovych fought for healthcare workers and their patients. Her own experience now illustrates how fragile access to medical care can become when the patient is a prisoner.