Human rights defenders and media workers call on the authorities and partners to prevent Russia from persecuting Iryna Zemlyana

31 March 2026

Ukraine’s media organisations, civil society organisations, and the Media Movement strongly condemn the Russian court ruling sentencing journalist, Institute of Mass Information expert Iryna Zemlyana in absentia to 13 years in prison and “banning” her from website and social media administration work for four years.

Iryna Zemlyana. Photo: journalist’s Facebook page

We see this ruling as an act of politically motivated persecution for her professional work, outspoken stance, and telling the truth about Russia’s crimes. It is especially telling that Russia’s charges against her included “incitement to hatred” and “promoting fakes” about the Russian army, seeing as these Criminal Code articles have been consistently used by Russian authorities to enforce censorship, crack down on freedom of speech, and punish journalists for facts, assessments, and critical reporting.

Part of the charges against Iryna Zemlyana concerned an episode that occurred during a symbolic performance at a Warsaw rally on 9 May 2022, which Russia included in the case in an attempt to make political persecution resemble a crime. However, the Polish police investigated the incident in the country where it had taken place, found no corpus delicti in it, and closed the case. This supports the idea that Russia’s prosecution of Iryna Zemlyana has less to do with justice and more with repression by the aggressor state.

It is especially alarming that Russia may try and use international search mechanisms to persecute Iryna Zemlyana beyond its jurisdiction. Such actions pose a threat not just to her personally, but also to all Ukrainian journalists and media professionals documenting war crimes, exposing the aggressor, and publically calling things by their names.

We call on the Ukrainian authorities, international human rights and journalist organisations to clearly and publically assess this ruling as an act of political persecution that concerns freedom of speech and journalism. We also urge them to take all possible steps to prevent the use of international legal mechanisms to put pressure on Iryna Zemlyana.

We stand in solidarity with all Ukrainian journalists working under the pressure of war, repression, and transnational threats. Persecution for reporting, testifying, calling the spade a spade can not be normal in a world that considers itself democratic.

Signed by:

The Media Movement

NGO Institute of Mass Information

NGO Women in Media

NGO Digital Security Lab

NGO Detector Media

NGO Ukrainian Institute of Media and Communications

Fact-checking project NotaYenota

Pylyp Orlyk Institute of Democracy

Souspilnist Foundation

NGO Human Rights Platform

NGO Internews Ukraine