In Russian detention, unfortunate demise of Ukrainian news personality.
There's a scarcity of unbiased news from Ukrainian territories currently under Russian control. Journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, who reported from these areas, was apprehended and later passed away in Russian custody.
As per reports from the British BBC, Roshchyna's family was informed by Russian authorities last week about her decease. The 27-year-old journalist disappeared in August 2023, in an area of Ukraine now under Russian occupation. It took Russian authorities almost nine months to publicly acknowledge her arrest.
Roshchyna's father received a letter from the Russian Ministry of Defense stating that she died on September 19. Her body is said to be returned to Ukraine along with the remains of deceased soldiers in a prisoner exchange between the two nations.
Over the weekend, friends of the journalist paid their tributes with an impromptu memorial in Kyiv. Sevgil Musaieva, the editor-in-chief of "Ukrayinska Pravda", called Roshchyna "remarkable". She had traveled to the "occupied territories" to report on "the living conditions in these cities under Russian army siege".
Roshchyna worked as a freelance journalist for various Ukrainian media outlets and US-funded "Radio Liberty", among others. She wrote extensively about life in the Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, and the separatist-controlled eastern Ukrainian regions. She also documented the nearly three-month defense of the port of Mariupol after Russia launched its large-scale invasion in February 2022.
Incarceration in Taganrog
Roshchyna's father mentioned that she had traveled to the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia via Poland and Russia in July 2023. She was held in Prison Camp No. 2 in the southern Russian city of Taganrog since May 2024. This facility is infamous for its inhumane treatment of many Ukrainians. According to the Media Initiative for Human Rights, a Ukrainian citizen witnessed Roshchyna there on September 8 or 9, expecting her release in a regular prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia on September 13. However, she and another woman were moved and neither was released.
Tetiana Katrytschenko of the Media Initiative for Human Rights suspects that Roshchyna might have been transferred to Moscow's Lefortovo prison, administered by the FSB security service. The Ukrainian security service confirmed Roshchyna's death, and the Prosecutor General's Office is now investigating her demise as a case of murder instead of illegal detention.
Jeanne Cavalier, head of Reporters Without Borders' Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk, stated that despite numerous requests from her family, Ukrainian authorities, and RSF, Russian authorities never disclosed any information regarding Roshchyna's detention. RSF names Roshchyna as the 13th journalist to lose her life while working since Russia's invasion.
Since the commencement of Russia's large-scale invasion, countless civilians from territories controlled by Moscow have been forcefully relocated. Neither lawyers nor the Red Cross have the permission to access them.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) formally announced that Russian authorities informed Roshchyna's family about her death last week. In response to her passing, The Commission expressed concern over the safety of journalists working in conflict zones and called for an investigation into her death.
