Memorial stone honouring fallen journalists unveiled in France, Viktoriia Roshchyna among them – photo
The 2025 memorial stone at the Bayeux War Reporters' Memorial was unveiled in the French city of Bayeux on 9 October in the presence of the families and loved ones of 73 journalists who were killed while performing their professional duties between 1 June 2024 and 1 June 2025.
Source: Ukrainian outlet Detector Media, citing the website of Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
Details: The memorial stone was unveiled as part of the 32nd Bayeux Calvados-Normandy War Correspondents' Awards ceremony. Special tribute was paid to Palestinian journalists who were killed in Gaza, with an inscription reading: "In memory of an unprecedented tragedy. To all journalists killed in Gaza."
RSF Director General Thibaut Bruttin, opening the memorial, said that "seventy-three more names engraved in the marble of the Bayeux War Reporters' Memorial".
"They were killed for informing us about collusion between authorities and organised crime in Mexico, monarchist riots and their repression in Nepal, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and crimes committed by the Israeli army against the Palestinian population," he said.
The white marble bears the names of 73 journalists who gave their lives while carrying out their professional duties in Palestine, Ukraine, Mexico and other countries.
The memorial stone also features the name of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, who was held in Russian captivity since 2023 and died in 2024 as a result of torture and inhumane treatment. Among the murdered journalists is also Kazakh opposition journalist Aydos Sadykov, who was assassinated on 18 June in Kyiv.
His wife, Natalya Sadykova, delivered a speech describing the circumstances of his killing.
Quote from Sadikova: "Aydos Sadykov was killed by the dictatorial regime of Kazakhstan's president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. […] Killed for telling the truth. He fought injustice with his words – and that is why he was murdered. Dictators will stop at nothing to silence journalists. But each killing is not only a family's tragedy. It is a crime against society, against everyone's right to know the truth.
Only together can we put an end to impunity, arbitrariness and dictatorship. History will set the record straight. And the world will know who spoke the truth, and who killed them."
Background:
- Russia delayed the repatriation of Roshchyna's body, which was only returned in February 2025.
- The Office of the Prosecutor General reported that Roshchyna's body bore multiple signs of torture and ill-treatment: abrasions, bruises, a broken rib and evidence of electrocution.
- The investigative team conducting the inquiry confirmed that the body was brought back to Ukraine after an autopsy conducted in Russia. Journalists learned from law enforcement sources that the body was missing several internal organs – the brain, the eyeballs and part of the trachea. An international forensic pathologist said this may have been done in an attempt to conceal the true cause of death, including possible suffocation.
- Viktoria's funeral was held in Kyiv on 8 August.
- An investigation revealed that Roshchyna died on 19 September 2024 in a pre-trial detention centre in the town of Kizel, Perm Krai, Russia.
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