Russia has returned the frame of a Ukrainian journalist who used to be captured in occupied east Ukraine and later died in Russian custody, a Ukrainian lawmaker stated Thursday.
Victoria Roshchyna, who died at age 27, disappeared in August 2023 on a reporting travel to the Moscow-held a part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region after travelling by the use of Russian territory.
She remained lacking till April 2024, when her father won a letter from Moscow’s protection ministry announcing she used to be being held in Russian detention.
The instances of her arrest weren’t made public and Russia didn’t provide an explanation for her loss of life, first reported in October 2024.
Yan Dobronosov/World Photographs Ukraine by the use of Getty Photographs 
“Victoria Roshchyna’s frame is in Ukraine. The journalist’s frame used to be returned as a part of an alternate on the finish of February,” Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Yurchyshyn stated Thursday.
Officers selected to not divulge her frame have been returned till they have been completely positive it used to be her, Yurchyshyn stated.
“Given the torture and the situation of the frame, Roshchyna’s circle of relatives asked now not one, however a number of DNA examinations,” he added.
A joint investigation via Journalists With out Borders and Ukrainian investigative information outlet Slidstva discovered that she used to be arrested in Energodar in southern Ukraine, and later held for a number of weeks within the Russian-held town of Melitopol.
From there, she used to be transferred to a prison within the Russian port town of Taganrog. The investigation stated she stopped consuming in jail and had “knife wounds” on her frame, in step with her cellmate.
Russia does now not usually remark at the remedy of person prisoners however says it investigates cases of torture in its penal gadget.
1000’s of Ukrainians adversarial to Moscow’s rule had been detained in occupied territories since Russia’s invasion in 2022, a lot of whom face torture by the hands of safety forces, in step with rights teams. Ultimate 12 months, BBC Russia reported that hundreds of Ukrainian civilians, together with reporters, in Russian custody have been being held with out fees or get entry to to felony recommend.
Roshchyna labored as a freelancer for quite a lot of unbiased information retailers, together with Ukrainska Pravda, and had collaborated with the Ukrainian provider of US-funded media outlet Radio Loose Europe.
In March 2022, Roshchina used to be detained via Russian forces for 10 days whilst reporting in southeastern Ukraine, in step with the Committee to Offer protection to Reporters.
In 2022, she used to be awarded the Braveness in Journalism award via the International Women’s Media Foundation for her reporting from east Ukraine.
“Victoria’s passing is not only the lack of a exceptional lady, however of an intrepid witness to historical past,” the gang said in a statement after her loss of life. “Irrespective of her explanation for loss of life, we will say with walk in the park that her existence used to be taken as a result of she dared inform the reality. We are hoping her loss of life may not be in useless: the world neighborhood should power Russia to stop concentrated on reporters and silencing press freedom.”
The Committee to Offer protection to Reporters additionally condemned Moscow for Roshchina’s loss of life.
“Duty for her loss of life lies with the Russian government, who detained her for bold to file the reality at the Russia-Ukraine warfare,” CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator stated in a statement. “Ukrainian and Russian government should do the whole thing of their energy to analyze Roshchina’s loss of life.”
