Crimean Journalist Iryna Danylovych Subjected to Noise Torture in Russian Penal Colony
Crimean journalist and political prisoner Iryna Danylovych, who suffers from an ear condition, is being tortured by Russian authorities with loud noise for 12 hours daily in a penal colony.
Iryna Danylovych, a Crimean journalist and political prisoner held for over four years, is being systematically tortured with loud noise in a Russian penal colony. According to human rights activists, colony staff turn on a television at maximum volume from 6 a.m. until evening every day, causing her severe pain due to her ear condition.
Her sister Olha Novytska stated that any loud sound feels like an electric shock to Iryna, and the constant ringing in her ear is being exploited to drive her to suicide. The human rights initiative Tribunal. Crimean Episode reported this.
Reporters Without Borders and the American Human Rights Foundation recently appealed to UN special rapporteurs for her release, but the only result was an additional search of her belongings. Novytska called for intervention to give Iryna a chance to survive.
Human rights defenders note that deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering constitutes inhuman treatment under international criminal law and is a violation of the Geneva Convention, considered a war crime.
Danylovych was arrested on 29 April 2022 while traveling from Koktebel to Feodosiia. An occupation court sentenced her on 28 December 2022 to seven years for alleged illegal possession and manufacture of explosives. She pleaded not guilty.
Due to lack of medical care at the Simferopol pre-trial detention centre, she went on a dry hunger strike in 2023. After that, she met a lawyer and was promised treatment, but suffered a stroke. In August 2023 she was transferred to penal colony No. 7 in Zelenokumsk, Stavropol Krai. In October 2024 she complained of constant headaches and heart pain.
On 15 July 2025, she appealed to European Parliament Vice-President Pina Picierno, who expressed support and said those responsible must be held accountable.
Before the full-scale invasion, Danylovych worked with InZhyr Media, Crimean Process, and ran her own project "Crimean Medicine Uncovered" about medical workers' rights.
