Russia has returned the physique of a Ukrainian journalist who was captured in occupied east Ukraine and later died in Russian custody, a Ukrainian lawmaker mentioned Thursday.
Victoria Roshchyna, who died at age 27, disappeared in August 2023 on a reporting journey to the Moscow-held a part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia area after travelling by way of Russian territory.
She remained lacking till April 2024, when her father acquired a letter from Moscow’s protection ministry saying she was being held in Russian detention.
The circumstances of her arrest weren’t made public and Russia didn’t clarify her loss of life, first reported in October 2024.
Yan Dobronosov/World Pictures Ukraine by way of Getty Pictures
“Victoria Roshchyna’s body is in Ukraine. The journalist’s body was returned as part of an exchange at the end of February,” Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Yurchyshyn mentioned Thursday.
Officers selected to not reveal her physique had been returned till they had been completely sure it was her, Yurchyshyn mentioned.
“Given the torture and the condition of the body, Roshchyna’s family requested not one, but several DNA examinations,” he added.
A joint investigation by Reporters With out Borders and Ukrainian investigative information outlet Slidstva discovered that she was arrested in Energodar in southern Ukraine, and later held for a number of weeks within the Russian-held metropolis of Melitopol.
From there, she was transferred to a jail within the Russian port metropolis of Taganrog. The investigation mentioned she stopped consuming in jail and had “knife wounds” on her physique, in accordance with her cellmate.
Russia doesn’t usually touch upon the therapy of particular person prisoners however says it investigates situations of torture in its penal system.
Hundreds of Ukrainians against Moscow’s rule have been detained in occupied territories since Russia’s invasion in 2022, a lot of whom face torture by the hands of safety forces, in accordance with rights teams. Final yr, BBC Russia reported that 1000’s of Ukrainian civilians, together with journalists, in Russian custody had been being held with out expenses or entry to authorized counsel.
Roshchyna labored as a freelancer for numerous impartial information shops, together with Ukrainska Pravda, and had collaborated with the Ukrainian service of U.S.-funded media outlet Radio Free Europe.
In March 2022, Roshchina was detained by Russian forces for 10 days whereas reporting in southeastern Ukraine, in accordance with the Committee to Shield Journalists.
In 2022, she was awarded the Braveness in Journalism award by the Worldwide Ladies’s Media Basis for her reporting from east Ukraine.
“Victoria’s passing is not just the loss of a remarkable woman, but of an intrepid witness to history,” the group mentioned in a press release after her loss of life. “Regardless of her cause of death, we can say with certainty that her life was taken because she dared tell the truth. We hope her death will not be in vain: the international community must pressure Russia to cease targeting journalists and silencing press freedom.”
The Committee to Shield Journalists additionally condemned Moscow for Roshchina’s loss of life.
“Responsibility for her death lies with the Russian authorities, who detained her for daring to report the truth on the Russia-Ukraine war,” CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator mentioned in a assertion. “Ukrainian and Russian authorities must do everything in their power to investigate Roshchina’s death.”
