Crimean political prisoner tortured with loud noise in Russian penal colony

Crimean journalist and political prisoner Iryna Danylovych, who has an ear condition, is being tortured by the Russians with loud noise for 12 hours every day.

Source: Detector Media, citing human rights initiative Tribunal. Crimean Episode, which spoke to the journalist's sister Olha Novytska

Quote from Novytska: "She [Iryna] has a constant ringing in her ear, every loud sound feels like an electric shock and turns into torture. Yet colony staff turn the television on at maximum volume at 6:00 and don't turn it off until evening. They're simply driving her to suicide, because any loud sound just cuts through her brain."

Details: Novytska added that Reporters Without Borders and the American Human Rights Foundation had recently submitted an appeal for Danylovych's release to UN special rapporteurs. However, this achieved no result other than an additional search of the political prisoner's belongings.

Novytska called on everyone who is able to do so to intervene in the situation and "give Iryna a chance to survive".

According to human rights defenders, the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering (physical or psychological) is treated under international criminal law as inhuman treatment, constitutes a violation of the Geneva Convention, and is considered a war crime.

For reference: Danylovych has been held in Russian custody for more than four years. Russian forces detained her on 29 April 2022 while she was travelling from work between Koktebel and Feodosiia. On 28 December 2022, an occupation court sentenced Danylovych to seven years in prison for alleged illegal possession and manufacture of explosives. Danylovych did not admit guilt.

Due to a lack of treatment and medical care at the Simferopol pre-trial detention centre, the political prisoner went on a dry hunger strike in 2023. Following this, she was allowed to meet with a lawyer and was promised treatment. While at this detention centre, she suffered a stroke.

In August 2023, Danylovych was transferred to penal colony No. 7 in the town of Zelenokumsk, Stavropol Krai, Russia. In October 2024, the journalist complained of constant headaches and heart pain.

On 15 July 2025, Danylovych appealed to European Parliament Vice-President Pina Picierno to draw attention to the widespread abuse in the colony. In response, the official expressed her support for the journalist and said that those responsible for her unjust imprisonment must be held accountable.

Detector Media notes that before the start of the full-scale invasion, Danylovych collaborated with several media and human rights initiatives (InZhyr Media, Crimean Process) and ran her own project, Crimean Medicine Uncovered, where she wrote about the rights of medical workers.

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