The international watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the sentence handed down to Ukrainian journalist Iryna Levchenko, recently sentenced to 15 years in jail by Russian occupation authorities, and has called for her immediate release, as reported in a Facebook post by RSF.
The organisation recalled that Iryna Levchenko was abducted off the street in Russian-occupied territory on 6 May 2023. Despite being in retirement at the time, she remained a prominent figure in Melitopol.
“Her case exemplifies the Kremlin’s systematic repression in the occupied territories and its goal to silence all outspoken media voices. We condemn this outrageous sentence and call for her immediate release,” RSF said.
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On 4 September 2026, the Russia-installed Zaporizhzhia Oblast Court sentenced Iryna Levchenko, a journalist from Melitopol unlawfully detained in 2023, to 15 years in prison, having found her guilty of “espionage”. It was reported in June 2026 that Iryna Levchenko had been moved from the pre-trial detention center in Simferopol to a prison in Krasnodar (Russia).
Previously
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.
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.
