The case of Crimean nurse Irina Danilovich

A nurse and activist from Crimea, Irina Danilovich, is suspected of possessing 200 grams of explosives, which, according to the investigation, she allegedly kept inside the lining of a glasses case. She has been placed in a pre-trial detention centre. On 3 June, the Ministry of Justice added Danilovich to the register of “foreign agent” media outlets.

The activist told her father that after being apprehended on 29 April—in an incident she described as more like a kidnapping than an arrest—she was held in a basement of the FSB. According to Danilovich, she spent a week there in conditions she called torturous.

She and her defence argue that the explosives were planted: when she arrived at the FSB building, officers searched her bag and found nothing. Then, according to Danilovich, they confiscated her bag and later “discovered” explosive materials inside it.

Before her arrest, Danilovich worked with the Crimean Process and INzhir media projects, both covering prosecutions on the peninsula, and also wrote about violations of the rights of Crimean medical workers, including underpayments for work with COVID patients.