Ukrainian journalist Roshchyna’s body returned from Russia shows signs of torture

Ukrainska Pravda reported the information.

According to the head of the War Department of the Prosecutor General's Office, Yuriy Belousov, numerous signs of torture and ill-treatment were found on Roshchyna's body, including abrasions and hemorrhages on various parts of the body, a broken rib. The experts also saw possible signs of electric shock.

“The injuries were inflicted while she was alive. Therefore, it is highly likely that she was tortured,” Belousov said.

Additionally, the investigative team reported that the body was brought to Ukraine showing signs of an autopsy conducted on Russian territory. The examination revealed that several internal organs, including the brain, eyeballs, and part of the trachea, were missing.

An international forensic pathologist interviewed by journalists believes that the absence of these organs may suggest that Russia was attempting to conceal the fact that the cause of death was strangulation.

Death of Victoria Roschyna: what is known

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

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. She said that she was held for a week in Berdiansk.

In October 2023, it became known that Ukrainian journalist Victoria 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 Victoria Roshchyna, who disappeared in the temporarily occupied territories in August last year, captive. On October 10, it became known that Roshchyna had died. Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said that he had received documentary evidence of the journalist's death from the Russian side.

Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office opened a war crime proceeding combined with premeditated murder. According to human rights activists, journalist Roshchina was held in a 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.

The European parliamentarians demand an independent investigation as soon as possible to find out all the circumstances of the journalist's death in Russian captivity.

On March 3, journalists found out that Roshchyna had been brutally tortured in Russian captivity, with stab wounds on her body.

On April 24, Victoria Roshchyna's body was returned to Ukraine.