Human rights activists say the Iryna Danilovych trial is politically motivated

Photo: crimean-process.org

Human rights and media organizations claim that the trial against citizen journalist Iryna Danilovych, which ongoing in occupied Crimea, is politically motivated.

This is said in the organizations' statement regarding the persecution of citizen journalist Iryna Danilovych in occupied Crimea.

The organizations note that since the very first hearings it has been obvious that the "court" was deliberately preventing the true facts in the journalists' case from being established. For example, at the November 7 hearing, the court refused the defense the opportunity to question all 15 witnesses that the lawyers were supposed to question (namely the witnesses who were involved in the journalist's kidnapping).

"Also, during the October 24 and November 7 hearings, the representative of the prosecution was exploiting the evidence base, reading aloud only fragments of the documents from the criminal case (not the entire documents, but only the necessary parts), did not respond to the crime which was a witness refusing to testify in court, and supported the of testimonies from the case being read aloud even though there were no grounds for this.

"This approach demonstrates that the real motive for the persecution of Iryna Danilovych could have been the comments she had given to journalists regarding the objective state of the health care system in the occupied territory and her public activism in defending the rights of the region's healthcare workers, reporting on politically motivated processes, and not the explosives which the Russian security forces allegedly found in her purse," the statement reads.

Human rights activists call on the Ukrainian authorities to make every effort to release Iryna Danilovych, and on international governments to strongly and unilaterally protest the politically motivated prosecution of the journalist.

Here is the full statement:

A politically motivated trial against citizen journalist Iryna Danilovych has begun in occupied Crimea. She is one of 14 Ukrainian journalists who are imprisoned in occupied Crimea or have been transferred to prisons in the Russian Federation.

Iryna Danilovych, who worked with many independent media, namely the INzhyr project and the Crimean Process initiative, has been imprisoned in temporarily occupied Crimea since April 2022 for political reasons.

Before her imprisonment, Iryna used to live in Vladyslavivka village near Feodosia and worked as a nurse in Koktebel. She was a citizen journalist and was making publications anonymously, covering such subjects as the rights of healthcare workers, and also worked with various publications that covered political trials in occupied Crimea.

On April 29, 2022, four Russian law enforcemers in civilian clothes kidnapped Irina on her way from Koktebel to Feodosia, which was filmed on video. They also searched her house, seizing all equipment. Iryna was held incommunicado for 13 days. As it later turned out, Danilovych was kept in an FSB department for eight days, where she was tested with a lie detector, threatened, and only given food once a day.

It was only on the 13th day after her disappearance that Iryna's family was told that she was in the Simferopol pre-trial detention center. The citizen journalist was charged with "illegal storage of explosives"; she faces up to eight years in prison and a fine of up to 100,000 Russian rubles.

In July 2022, Danilovych reported being beaten by an FSB officer and put under psychological pressure by Russian security forces.

On August 29, the trial in the case of citizen journalist Iryna Danilovych began at the Feodosia city "court". On October 24, the court began examining the evidence and considering the merits of the case.

Since the very first hearings it has been obvious that the "court" was deliberately preventing the true facts in the journalists' case from being established. For example, at the November 7 hearing, the court refused the defense the opportunity to question all 15 witnesses that the lawyers were supposed to question (namely the witnesses who were involved in the journalist's kidnapping).

Also, during the October 24 and November 7 hearings, the representative of the prosecution was exploiting the evidence base, reading aloud only fragments of the documents from the criminal case (not the entire documents, but only the necessary parts), did not respond to the crime which was a witness refusing to testify in court, and supported the of testimonies from the case being read aloud even though there were no grounds for this.

This approach demonstrates that the real motive for the persecution of Iryna Danilovych could have been the comments she had given to journalists regarding the objective state of the health care system in the occupied territory and her public activism in defending the rights of the region's healthcare workers, reporting on politically motivated processes, and not the explosives which the Russian security forces allegedly found in her purse.

In view of such a telling beginning of the judicial investigation in the case against the Crimean citizen journalist, we urge:

a) human rights organizations of Ukraine and other democratic countries:

• to constantly monitor the court case against Iryna Danilovych;
• to share their own conclusions and assessments regarding this legal process as much as possible;

b) independent media, editors, and journalists:

• to show professional solidarity and organize an information campaign covering the specifics of the court process in Iryna Danilovych's case in detail;

c) professional unions of journalists:

• to take part in spreading information about the specifics of the trial in Iryna Danilovych's case among the international community;
• to hold their own events calling on union members to show professional solidarity and report on the specifics of the trial against Iryna Danilovych;

d) state authorities of Ukraine:

• to make every effort to release Iryna Danyiovych, as well as other Crimean political prisoners, including human rights activists and journalists;
• to conduct an investigation into the illegal imprisonment and persecution of Iryna Danilovych and to bring the perpetrators to justice;

e) governments of democratic countries of the world:

• to express their strong consolidated protest against the politically motivated prosecution of Iryna Danilovych and other journalists in occupied Crimea;
• to impose personal sanctions against persons involved in the persecution of Iryna Danilovych.

The address was supported by: ZMINA Human Rights Center, Crimean Process, the Institute of Mass Information, the Human Rights Platform, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, the Association of Relatives of Kremlin Political Prisoners, the Crimean Human Rights Group, the Regional Center for Human Rights, and the DIYA Human Rights Center.