03 July 2026

Faces of Resistance: The Story of Political Prisoner Iryna Horobtsova

Life before her detention

Iryna Horobtsova was born on 13 May 1985. She earned a university degree and, before her arrest, worked successfully as a software tester at an IT company.

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion, Iryna lived in Kherson with her parents. After the city was occupied in the spring of 2022, she took a clear pro-Ukrainian stance and became actively involved in volunteer work. As a volunteer driver, she assisted local hospitals by delivering medicines, food, and medical supplies.

Iryna openly expressed her resistance to the occupation by participating in peaceful protests in Kherson and posting messages in support of Ukraine on social media.

Persecution

On 13 May 2022 – her birthday – armed Russian security forces raided Iryna’s home. The occupiers conducted an unlawful search, confiscated her electronic devices, forcibly detained her, and transferred her to temporarily occupied Crimea.

For an extended period, she was held incommunicado and denied access to a lawyer. Russian authorities later fabricated criminal charges against her, accusing her of “espionage” and alleging that she had passed information about the deployment of Russian troops to Ukrainian intelligence.

At the end of August 2024, the occupation “court” in Crimea sentenced Iryna Horobtsova to 10,5 years of imprisonment. The sentence was later upheld by an appellate court in Moscow.

Behind bars

For more than two years, Iryna was unlawfully held in pre-trial detention centres in Simferopol, where she endured severe psychological pressure and spent prolonged periods in solitary confinement. Due to the harsh detention conditions and constant stress, she lost 20 kilograms.

Her health deteriorated dramatically in captivity. A chronic cerebral aneurysm worsened, and she developed tachycardia. Despite her serious medical condition, the occupying authorities failed to provide her with adequate medical care.

While in pre-trial detention, Iryna managed to send an open letter to the Ukrainian authorities and the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, calling for the rescue of all civilian women held hostage by the Kremlin.

As of October 2025, following the appeal proceedings in Moscow, Iryna Horobtsova was transferred once again to Women’s Correctional Colony No. 2 in the settlement of Yavas, Republic of Mordovia. According to her father, the conditions in the colony are extremely harsh and comparable to penal servitude.