UN demands Russia confirm death of missing Ukrainian journalist Roshchyna, held in their captivity

This was reported by the UN.

“The distressing news adds to tremendous suffering caused to the family by Victoria Roshchyna’s enforced disappearance and prolonged uncertainty about her fate and whereabouts for over one year and amounts to torture and ill-treatment under the international human rights law,” the experts said.

The latest unofficial information on the whereabouts of Viktoria Roshchyna in the detention facility in the Russian city of Taganrog is dated September 8, 2024. She was likely taken to an unknown location, and since then her fate and whereabouts remain unknown.

In response to numerous requests for information addressed to the Russian authorities, on October 10, 2024, her father received a letter from the Russian Ministry of Defense signed by “V. Koh”, who did not disclose his official position of authority. The letter claimed that Victoria had died on September 19, 2024, in Russian captivity, but did not provide any supporting documents or details about the cause or circumstances of her death.

“Given that Victoria’s detention or alleged death have not been officially confirmed through provision of evidence, we urge the Russian government to immediately confirm her fate and whereabouts. Should her death be confirmed, we call for the immediate return of her body home so that an independent investigation into the cause and circumstances of her death could be undertaken, including an independent autopsy,” the experts said.

What is known about the death of Victoria Roshchyna

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Viktoria Roshchyna worked for the hromadske outlet and wrote reports from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. 

On March 7, 2022, she came across a battalion of Russian tanks that fired at her car. A week later, the Russian military detained her in the village of Vasylivka, but the journalist managed to escape.

On March 11, 2022, Roshchyna was again captured by the Russian FSB - according to her, she was captured on her way to Mariupol. She said she was held for a week in Berdiansk.

In October 2023, it was reported that Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, who received an award for her reporting on the war in Ukraine, disappeared in the temporarily occupied territories. Her family and friends reported that they had lost contact with her since August 3, 2023. 

In May 2024, Russia admitted that it was holding Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, who disappeared in the temporarily occupied territories in August last year, in captivity.

On October 10, it became known that Roshchyna, who had been taken prisoner by Russia, had died. Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said that he had received documentary evidence of the media worker's death from the Russian side.

Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office opened a war crime investigation into the death of Roshchyna, which is combined with premeditated murder.

On October 11, Ukrainian MP Yaroslav Yurchyshyn said that the body of journalist Roshchyna, who died in Russian captivity, was to be brought to her family in the near future. However, as of October 20, the woman's body has not been returned to Ukraine.

According to human rights activists, journalist Roshchyna was held in a pre-trial detention center known for the most brutal torture.

On October 11, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine reclassified the criminal proceedings into a war crime combined with premeditated murder.