Russian prison staff still uses loud noise daily to torture Ukrainian journalist Iryna Danylovych, who has a serious ear disease, Tribunal. Crimean Episode reports, citing the journalist’s sister Olha Novytska.
Novytska says that the loud noise continues for 12 hours in a row every day and makes the journalist’s condition worse.
“She has a constant whistling in her ear, every loud sound feels like an electric shock and becomes torture. Despite this, the prison staff turn on the TV at maximum volume at 6 a.m. and do not turn it off until the evening. She is simply being driven to suicide, because any loud sound causes unbearable pain to her. I ask everyone who can to intervene in the situation and give Iryna a chance to survive,” said Olha Novytska.
Iryna’s sister said that international human rights organisations’ appeals to UN special rapporteurs are yet to yield any result except for an extra search of the journalist’s belongings.
In June 2026, Reporters Without Borders and the US-based Human Rights Foundation handed Iryna Danylovych’s case to six UN special rapporteurs and asked them to take urgent action to free her.
On 28 April 2026, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) began trial in two lawsuits filed by Ukrainian journalist, Russia’s political prisoner Iryna Danylovych against Russia. The cases concerned unlawful detention and the journalist’s inclusion in Russia’s “foreign agents” register.
The case of Iryna Danylovych
Iryna Danylovych was detained on 29 April 2022, in the occupied Crimea. She was detained on her way from work on the road from Koktebel to Feodosia. Her house in Vladislavivka village was searched, her phone and laptop were seized.
She was sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of storing an explosive device in December 2022. The sentence was later cut back a month, and the journalist moved to a prison in Russia.
Her health has deteriorated considerably while in jail: she suffered a stroke, lost hearing in one ear, and has repeatedly complained that proper medical assistance was being withheld from her. In 2024, she complained of heart pain and neurological problems.
It was reported in 2025 that Iryna Danylovych was in women’s prison No. 7 in Zelenokumsk (Stavropol Kray, Russia), in harsh conditions. She addressed international institutions with a request to pay more attention to human rights abuse in Russian prisons.
In January 2026, Iryna Danylovych called on the international community to put more effort into raising awareness of the plight of Russia’s political prisoners in 2026.
Iryna Danylovych was a nurse and worked with Inzhyr Media and Crimean Process. She had a blog on social media and wrote columns on healthcare workers’ rights and healthcare issues in occupied Crimea.