Viktoria Roshchyna, a Ukrainian journalist who died in Russian captivity, was held in Russian detention centers where torture is used against the prisoners, the Media Initiative for Human Rights said on Oct. 11.
Ukrainian officials confirmed Roshchyna's death on Oct. 10 but said that the circumstances of her death are still under investigation. The journalist disappeared in August 2023 while reporting in Russian-occupied territory, with Moscow admitting her detention the following year.
Previously, in March 2022, Roshchyna was detained for 10 days by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officers while leaving Berdiansk in the direction of Mariupol. As a condition of her release, she was forced to record a video saying Russian forces had saved her life.
The Media Initiative for Human Rights, a Ukrainian NGO focused on human rights advocacy and investigations, said that Roshchyna was held in at least two prisons: the penal colony n. 77 in Berdiansk in occupied Ukraine and the detention center n. 2 in Russia's Taganrog.
Both these detention facilities are known for the use of torture against the captives. The NGO said it is aware of cases of prisoners being electrocuted in the Berdiansk prison.
The Taganrog detention center is "considered one of the most brutal detention centers in Russia," the initiative said, citing former prisoners. Many Azov Brigade fighters captured after the siege of Azovstal are held here.
"Viktoria was held in Taganrog at least from May to September 2024, in solitary confinement," the NGO's executive director, Tetiana Katrychenko, said on Facebook.
Dinara Khalilova
Roshchyna was taken out of Taganrog to an unknown location in September. According to Russia, she died on Sept. 19.
It currently remains unclear where she was being transported, whether she was being transported for an exchange, and whether her death was a result of torture and abuse by Russian captors, the NGO said.
Andrii Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraine's military intelligence agency, told the Suspilne media outlet that Roshchyna was supposed to be included in an upcoming prisoner exchange.
Ukrainian prosecutors, who were previously investigating Roshchyna's disappearance, have now re-classified the case as a war crime and murder.
Roshchyna had covered Russia's full-scale invasion for multiple Ukrainian news outlets, including Hromadske, Ukrainska Pravda, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).
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