THE NATIONAL UNION OF
JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE
Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchina was captured by the russians in August 2023. At first, the girl was held in torture chambers in the occupied territories and then imprisoned at Taganrog Remand Prison 2. All this time, Victoria was not charged with any crimes.
When journalists asked about the conditions of detention of Victoria Roshchina at Taganrog Remand Prison 2, the colony management replied that the journalist was not there. However, investigators were able to find several witnesses who said the opposite.
This became known from the investigation by Slidstvo.Info.
The russians’ response to the journalists’ letter states: “We inform you that according to the accounting data of the Remand Prison 2 of russia in the Rostov Region, Roshchina Victoria was not held in custody.”
Journalists found witnesses who saw Victoria at the Taganrog colony. They testified that the journalist was brutally tortured, and her health was very poor.
“I saw several scars on her body — definitely on her arm and leg. She had a knife wound, well, a fresh scar. Between the bone and the elbow in the soft tissues. And the scar was about three centimeters,” says Victoria‘s cellmate from the Taganrog Remand Prison, retelling journalist’s words about her stay in the Melitopol torture chambers.
In addition to the knife cuts, Victoria was also tortured with electric shocks. Over time, the journalist got worse and lost weight.
“Victoria weighed up to 30 kilograms. I helped her get up because she was in such a state that she couldn’t even lift her head off the pillow. At first, I raised her head and Victoria grabbed the bed handle, and only then could she get up,” says Victoria‘s cellmate.
After that, Victoria was placed in a local hospital, where the journalist stayed for several weeks.
Reporters Without Borders (France) found another witness from Taganrog Remand Prison, who confirmed the words of Victoria‘s cellmate.
“In June 2024, Victoria disappeared from Remand Prison for about 2-3 weeks, and everyone thought she had died. Around the end of June, Victoria was brought back to Remand Prison and placed in a separate cell,” says a witness from Remand Prison, who wished to remain anonymous.
Victoria was last seen on September 8, 2024, when she was taken out of her cell in an unknown direction.
According to the Coordination Headquarters, Victoria Roshchina was supposed to be in a prisoner exchange on September 13 or 14, but the journalist did not return.
In early October 2024, Victoria‘s father, Volodymyr Roshchin, received a letter purportedly from the russian Ministry of Defense stating that his daughter had died in captivity. This brief message stated the journalist’s date of death as September 19, 2024, and that her body would be returned “to the Ukrainian side as part of an exchange of bodies of detainees.” The circumstances and cause of death were not reported. In the months that have passed since that message, the journalist’s body has not been returned to her family.
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