URGENT ACTION

IMPRISONED nurse may fully lose HEARING 
Irina Danilovich, a nurse and human rights activist, was abducted by security officers in Russian-occupied Crimea in April 2022 and sentenced to seven years imprisonment following an unfair trial. She has been denied access to the healthcare she required for acute ear pain. She was recently transferred to a penal colony in Russia’s Stavropol Region, and has been denied a medical examination despite the risk of complete hearing loss. 

TAKE ACTION: WRITE AN APPEAL IN YOUR OWN WORDS OR USE THIS MODEL LETTER

Tatiana Moskalkova 
Human Rights Commissioner 
Smolensky Boulevard, 19с2
119121 Moscow
Russian Federation 
Email: Moskalkova@ombudsmanrf.ru
 A.Ovchinnikova@rightsrf.ru
 A.Scherbakova@rightsrf.ru
Dear Human Rights Commissioner,

I am deeply concerned for nurse Irina Danilovich, who has been transferred to the prison colony No. 7 in Zelenokumsk, Stavropol Region, following an unfair trial and conviction on false charges. She was arbitrarily detained and then wrongfully convicted, following an unfair trial in Crimea in December 2022, in retribution for her criticism of the healthcare system and for exposing corruption. Irina Danilovich's continued incarceration, deteriorating health and the denial of adequate healthcare is putting her life at risk.

Irina Danilovich had been complaining of acute ear pain and headaches for months before her transfer, but was not provided with the necessary medical care. Irina Danilovich staged a hunger strike in March 2023 in protest at the denial of healthcare, after which she was taken to hospital where doctors ordered further medical examinations and treatment. However, the penitentiary authorities at the SIZO-1 detention centre continued to deny her the healthcare she required. 

Her condition has deteriorated since her transfer to prison colony No. 7 but the medical personnel in the colony refuse to examine her. Irina Danilovich is already partially deaf, and may lose her remaining hearing unless she urgently receives the treatment she requires. Denying a prisoner the healthcare they require may amount to torture or other ill-treatment. 

She must be released immediately and unconditionally. 

I urge you take all steps within your authority to ensure that Irina Danilovich: 

- is released immediately and unconditionally, and acquitted and cleared of any trumped-up charges;
- is urgently provided with the healthcare she requires and is protected from torture and other ill-treatment;
- all those responsible for the conditions of her detention and denial of medical care are held accountable. 

Yours sincerely,

Additional information

Irina Danilovich (Iryna Danylovych) is a civic activist and a human rights defender who was exposing problems of the health care system in Russian-occupied Crimea. She was very vocal and publicly condemned cases of politically motivated prosecutions, enforced disappearances and the arbitrary detention of human rights defenders and other activists. 
On 29 April 2022, Irina Danilovich was abducted in Koktebel, Crimea, by members of the Russian Federation’s security forces. Her fate and whereabouts were unknown to her family and lawyer until 11 May 2022. According to Irina Danilovich, she was repeatedly threatened with secret execution, and spent most of this time locked up in a basement in inhumane conditions. She was subjected to torture and other ill-treatment by her captors who were trying to force her to “confess” to state treason. She claims that after they failed to achieve this, , her captors tampered with her personal belongings where they planted the explosives that were then used to prosecute and imprison her. 
On 28 December 2022, Irina Danilovich was sentenced by the de facto Feodosia City Court to seven years of prison and a fine of 50,000 Roubles (US$ 720) under Article 222.1(1) of the Russian Criminal Code (illegal purchase, transfer, storage and transportation of explosive substances or explosive devices). The trial against her was fraught with numerous fair trial violations. Her conviction under Russian criminal law is in itself a violation of international humanitarian law applicable to occupied territories, as is her transfer to a colony in Russia.
In March 2023, Irina Danilovich went on a hunger strike to protest the denial of adequate healthcare. As a result, she was taken to hospital where initial examinations were conducted concluding that she required further medical checks and urgent treatment. Nonetheless, she was taken back to the detention centre SIZO-1 in the Crimean capital Simferopol, and received no further treatment. Her health condition is continuingly deteriorating, and she has already partially deaf as a result. 
The de facto Supreme Court of Crimea considered her appeal and in June 2023 reduced her sentence by one month, but upheld her unfounded conviction. However, during the appeal, the court dismissed her request to postpone the hearing on account of her poor health, and insisted that she was fit to attend the hearing. Irina Danilovich had to attend the hearing online despite the difficulties in following the proceeding due to her hearing problems. 
People who have opposed the Russian occupation and illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and the human rights violations committed there since 2014 have faced persecution, including harassment, intimidation, prosecution under trumped-up charges and enforced disappearances. 
PREFERRED LANGUAGE TO ADDRESS TARGET: Russian, English
You can also write in your own language.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE UNTIL: 10 January 2024 
Please check with the Amnesty office in your country if you wish to send appeals after the deadline.

NAME AND PREFFERED PRONOUN: [Irina Danilovich] (She/her)

LINK TO PREVIOUS UA: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur46/7014/2023/en/

Additional TARGET

Mr Andrei Kelin  
Embassy of the Russian Federation (Main Building)
6/7 Kensington Palace Gardens, London, W8 4QP
Fax: 020 7727 8625 
Email: kanc@rusemb.org.uk