Russia's human rights commissioner claims Ukrainian journalist Roshchyna killed in captivity had no procedural status in Russia

Russia’s human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova has claimed that the Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, who died in Russian captivity, had no procedural status in Russia. There is currently no information regarding the handover of her body.

Source: Ukrinform news agency, citing a statement by Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, an MP and Chair of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) Committee on Freedom of Speech

Quote: "There is currently no information on the handover of the body of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna. Russia has agreed several times to hand it over – unofficially, as there has been no official communication – but every time, in the final arrangements, Viktoriia’s body has been missing. We view this as an additional form of torture against her relatives, as Russia has not confirmed the information previously provided to Viktoriia’s father to either the Ukrainian authorities, or to her family, or to international organisations."

Details: Yurchyshyn stated that in response to an inquiry from the Ukrainian side regarding Roshchyna’s place of detention, Moskalkova said that she had no procedural status in Russia.

He notes that Moskalkova’s statement could be interpreted in various ways, including as an indication that Viktoriia had been held in Russian captivity as a hostage.

Read Viktoriia Roshchyna's writing for Ukrainska Pravda.

Background:

• To access occupied territory for an upcoming report, Viktoriia Roshchyna left Ukraine for Poland on 25 July 2023 to travel to the occupied territory. She planned to reach the occupied part of Ukraine's east via Russia in three days.
• Roshchyna disappeared on 3 August 2023 in the temporarily occupied territories from where she was reporting.
• Russia admitted for the first time in May 2024 that they had detained Roshchyna. The Russian Ministry of Defence sent a letter of confirmation to her father, Volodymyr Roshchyn.
• On 10 October 2024, Petro Yatsenko, the head of the press service of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, confirmed on the national joint 24/7 newscast that Viktoriia Roshchyna had died in Russian custody. Defence Intelligence of Ukraine said she had been due to be brought back to Ukraine in the near future.
• On 11 October, the Office of the Prosecutor General reported that the criminal proceedings initiated into Roshchyna's disappearance had been reclassified as a war crime combined with premeditated murder.
• Investigators from Slidstvo.Info have discovered that Roshchyna was brutally tortured in Russian captivity. She had stab wounds on her body and had been electrocuted, and staff at the Russian penal colony where she was held hid her away when inspections were carried out.

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