Russia returns to Victoria Roshchyna, a journalist from Ukraine who was captured and died arrested

Russia has returned the body of a Ukrainian journalist who was captured in the east occupied Ukraine And then he died in Russian custody, a Ukrainian legislator said Thursday.

Victoria Roshchynawho died at age 27, disappeared in August 2023 on a report trip to the Moscow part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region After traveling through Russian territory.

He remained missing until April 2024, when his father received a letter from the Moscow Ministry of Defense saying that he was arrested in Russian detention.

The circumstances of his arrest were not made public and Russia did not explain his death, he reported for the first time in October 2024.

“Victoria Roshchyna’s body is in Ukraine. The journalist’s body was returned as part of an exchange at the end of February,” said Ukrainian legislator Yaroslav Yurchyshyn.

The authorities chose not to reveal that his body had been returned until they were absolutely sure that it was her, Yurchyshyn said.

“Given the torture and condition of the body, Roshchyna’s family did not request one, but several DNA exams,” he added.

A joint investigation carried out by reporters without borders and average communication of Ukrainian research Slidstva discovered that it was arrested in Engodar in southern Ukraine, and then held for several weeks in the city of Melitopol, controlled by Russia.

From there, it was transferred to a prison in the Russian port city of Tagangag. The investigation said he stopped eating in prison and had “knife wounds” in his body, according to his cellmate.

Russia does not usually comment on the treatment of individual prisoners, but says it investigates cases of torture in its criminal system.

Thousands of Ukrainians opposed to the Moscow government have been arrested in occupied territories since the invasion of Russia in 2022, many of whom face torture at the hands of security forces, according to rights groups. Last year, BBC Russia reported that thousands of Ukrainian civilians, including journalists, in Russian custody were arrested without charges or access to legal advice.

Roshchyna worked as a freelancer for several independent media, including Ukrainska Pravda, and had collaborated with the Ukrainian Free Europe Europe Europe.

In March 2022, Roshchina was arrested by the Russian forces for 10 days while reporting in southeastern Ukraine, according to the committee to protect journalists.

In 2022, the International International Media Foundation of Women’s Media granted him courage in journalism for his reports of eastern Ukraine.

“Victoria’s death is not only the loss of a notable woman, but an intrepid witness of history,” the group said in a statement after his death. “Regardless of his cause of death, we can say with certainty that his life was taken because he dared to tell the truth. We hope that his death is not in vain: the international community must press Russia to stop attacking journalists and silence freedom of the press.”

The committee to protect journalists also condemned Moscow for the death of Roshchina.

“The responsibility for her death falls to the Russian authorities, who arrested her for daring to inform the truth about the Russian-Ukraine War,” said the coordinator of the European Program and Central Asia of the CPJ in a statement. “The Ukrainian and Russian authorities must do everything in their possession to investigate the death of Roshchina.”

In:
• Ukraine
• Russia
• Journalism