Russian occupation authorities try 25-year-old Ukrainian who came to Mariupol to visit grandmother

This was reported by the Mariupol City Council.

"Iryna Navalna and her mother, Oleksandra Stolyar, miraculously managed to escape from Mariupol in the spring of 2022. But it was not easy, because the Russian forces interrogated the girl because she had an identical surname to a well-known Russian oppositionist. They believed she was his relative. Eventually, the family came to the Zhytomyr region. However, the girl's grandmother remained in Mariupol. Therefore, in September last year, Irina returned to visit her and pick up some things," the city council said.

On September 27, Iryna Navalna suddenly disappeared. Later, her family found out that she was in a Donetsk detention centre. Russian occupation authorities claimed that the Ukrainian woman had allegedly colluded with a representative of the Ukrainian special service. The Russian forces invented the story that the girl had to remove an explosive device from a cache. And on the last day of the 'referendum', she was supposed to plant the explosive device in the Mariupol administration.

The Russian occupation authorities forced Iryna Navalna to record a video in which she confesses to having kept the explosive device.

"Iryna's mother told that after the detention centre, her daughter looked very bad, her skin was covered with some ulcers. From one of the detainees who was released, the relatives managed to find out that Irina was brought to the cell all beaten up, with black bruises. The mother tried to get her daughter released. She found a lawyer. And then Iryna did not admit her guilt, because she felt supported that her rights would be protected," the statement reads.

Now in the Russian city of Rostov, demonstrative court hearings are taking place. The next one is scheduled for December 21.

• Mariupol city council member Dmytro Zabavin said that the death rate among civilians in the city has recently increased sharply due to difficult living conditions.