Iryna Navalnaya

Iryna Navalnaya

Date of abduction: September 27, 2022

Place of abduction: Mariupol, Donetsk region

Iryna Navalnaya has been in Russian captivity for over two years. The girl was detained on September 27, 2022, and accused of attempting to commit a terrorist attack in Mariupol. They even published a video of Irina allegedly confessing to the crime.

“You can see that she is very scared. She was under a lot of pressure. There is not just fear in her eyes, there is internal hysteria. You can hear her repeating herself,” says Irina’s mother Oleksandra Stolyar.

This interrogation video is not the only one. Russians often filmed videos with Irina for TV channels and other Russian resources and even made a movie about her.

“Iryna is convenient for them. She has a surname like Navalnaya, and her stepfather is a military man. It’s perfect for making all kinds of videos,” her mother explains.

The woman recalls how it all started. “Once during the filtration, when the Russians saw the name Navalny, they turned Iryna around to face the wall of the tent, put a gun to her head, and started asking questions, laughing loudly and mocking her name. This went on for about two hours. The girl thought they would just kill her, but they let her go, and she was able to leave Mariupol with her mother for the Zhytomyr region. Then they traveled through Donetsk, Moscow, the Baltic States, and Poland. However, later, she had to return to her grandmother. That’s when Navalnaya was detained. They came for her at home.

“We have a military apartment, everyone knew about it. The neighbors reported to the occupation commandant’s office that someone had started to appear in the apartment. They followed and took her home,” says the mother.

For a month, the family was looking for where Iryna was being held. Then they learned that the girl was in a Donetsk detention center and that a criminal case had been opened against her. According to the women who were held together with the prisoner, Navalnaya was constantly beaten.

This publication was compiled with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation. It’s content is the exclusive responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the International Renaissance Foundation.