Melitopol-based journalist Iryna Levchenko, who was illegally detained by Russian forces in May 2023, has been moved from the pre-trial detention center in Simferopol to a prison in Krasnodar (Russia), RIA Pivden reported, citing the journalist’s sister Olena Rudenko.
Rudenko said that the prisoners were taken from Crimea at night. Iryna now shares a cell with five other women.
“There were about 10 prisoners. They were loaded into a van along with their luggage and taken away. The air conditioners were not working, people sat very close to one another inside the van. They were brought to the Krasnodar pre-trial detention center at night, and there is no electricity or water there. The girls in the cell say that everyone was given dry rations that day. Apparently, there was no way to cook meals. Generators were humming outside. They say that this has been happening in Krasnodar every now and then. Iryna is now in a cell with five other women. We know nothing about the detention conditions there yet,” Rudenko said.
The journalist’s sister added that the court hearing in Iryna’s case, which is scheduled for July, will probably take place in Krasnodar.
According to RIA Pivden, there have been no official reports of charges brought against Iryna Levchenko, however her family has been informed that she is being charged with “terrorism.”
Local journalist Iryna Levchenko and her husband Oleksandr were kidnapped in temporarily occupied Melitopol (Zaporizhia oblast) in May 2023. This information was confirmed by IMI’s own sources in the city. Iryna and her husband have been retired for several years. The occupiers detained the couple on the street, first keeping them together and then separating them.
Iryna was later moved to pre-trial detention No. 1 in Donetsk.
As per RIA Pivden, Oleksandr Levchenko was released in August 2024. He had been imprisoned in occupied Melitopol the entire time. Upon release he was issued a document stating that he had served 21 day of administrative arrest for “curfew breach”. He was not given back the passport, credit cards, and money confiscared during search. After the detention, he only saw his wife once during a prison walk, but they were not allowed to talk.
Iryna Levchenko has been a journalist since 1981. She worked for large-circulation newspapers, for the Melitopol district newspaper Novyi Den, was a correspondent for regional and national printed media.
Iryna Levchenko is on the Institute of Mass Information’s list of civilian journalists imprisoned by Russia.
