The ECHR has begun reviewing a Crimean journalist's complaints against Russia
The European Court of Human Rights has officially opened proceedings on two complaints filed by Ukrainian citizen journalist and political prisoner Iryna Danilovych against the Russian Federation. The Court has already issued requests for information and asked the Russian government to submit its observations on the admissibility and merits of the cases.
This was reported by the human rights organization CrimeaSOS.
The first complaint concerns events in 2022, when FSB officers unlawfully detained the journalist in Crimea and held her incommunicado on fabricated charges. In this case, the ECHR will examine violations of the right to liberty and security of person.
The second case concerns the Russian Ministry of Justice’s decision to add Iryna Danilovych to the register of so-called “foreign agents” in June 2022. Despite the fact that Russia ignores most ECHR procedures following its expulsion from the Council of Europe, the court continues to review applications in accordance with established procedures.
Currently, the unlawfully convicted journalist is being held in a women’s prison in the Stavropol Krai of the Russian Federation, where she was transferred following her sentencing by the occupation court. Danilovich has repeatedly reported torture, intimidation, and pressure from Russian security forces during her detention. The sentence calls for nearly seven years of imprisonment for allegedly carrying an explosive device.
In the temporarily occupied Crimea, since 2014, Russian authorities have opened over 1,700 cases on charges of so-called “discrediting the Russian Federation’s army,” according to the Office of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
