Ukraine mourns death of journalist detained in Russia – DW – 10/16/2024

War was his subject.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna has repeatedly put herself in danger while reporting on residents of her country’s occupied territories. She paid for her courage with her life.

After 15 months in captivity in Russia, the 27-year-old died while being transferred from a prison in the southern Russian city of Taganrog to the Russian capital Moscow. However, she was close to freedom, as she would have had to participate in a prisoner exchange.

Petro Yatsenko, representative of Ukrainian prisoners Exchange coordination staff announced Roshchyna’s death on Ukrainian television on October 10. He said the circumstances of his death were unclear.

A spokesperson for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said a prisoner exchange had been agreed with the Russian Federation. “According to the latest information, she was taken to the Lefortovo remand center (in Moscow) to prepare for her return home. She should have returned home soon,” he said.

The journalist’s family had already received a letter from the Russian Defense Ministry announcing that Rostchyna had died on September 19, two and a half weeks before her 28th birthday.

At the time of her arrest, Roshchyna had been working as a journalist for five or six years. She worked for Ukrainian Pravdaan online newspaper, as well as the news sites Novosti Donbassa and censor.net.

Rostchyna is being held in a “hell on earth” prison

Roshchyna had already been imprisoned. In March 2022, she was arrested and detained by Russian security services in Berdyansk, a port city in southern Ukraine. However, she was released ten days later in exchange for Russian soldiers.

In August 2023, she disappeared during a trip to the occupied territories. Her family lost contact with her on August 3, and for almost a year, Roshchyna was considered missing. It was not until May 2024 that Russia officially confirmed that she had been arrested and detained in the Russian Federation.

The Taganrog remand prison, where Roshchyna was last held, is a brutal place, said Tetyana Katrychenko of Media Initiative for Human Rights, a Ukrainian NGO.

“It is described as hell on earth. This is largely where defenders of the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol are held. Those who are released say the torture there is terrible,” she wrote on Facebook.

She said Roshchyna was held in an isolation cell from at least May to September this year.

Roshchyna “brave” and “true to her convictions”

Roshchyna’s death caused dismay and sympathy among her colleagues.

According to Tetyana Kosak, editor-in-chief of the online portal Graty, Roshchyna was “courageous” and “remained firm in her beliefs.” She said she was a talented journalist who had a great professional future ahead of her. “But during the war, all her fuses blew, which is why she was taken prisoner the first time.”

Yevhen Buderatskyi, deputy editor-in-chief of Ukrainian Pravdadescribed Roshchyna as “one of the toughest journalists I’ve ever worked with”, but praised her authenticity and tenacity.

“Sometimes she was unbearable. She took every correction personally,” Buderatskyi wrote. “But no matter what happened, Vika stayed true to herself as a journalist. You couldn’t stop her when she took action.

“Russia killed her, no matter what they say there now.”

Reporters Without Borders calls for investigation

“We are deeply shocked by the death of Viktoria Roshchyna and mourn with her loved ones,” said Anja Osterhaus of Reporters Without Borders.

“During the fifteen months of the journalist’s detention, the Russian authorities made no comment on the motives or the accusations. Despite repeated attempts by Reporters Without Borders and Roshchyna’s relatives, no sign of life was found .”

The Paris-based organization says it knows of 19 Ukrainian journalists currently detained in Russia.

But Oksana Romaniuk, director of the Ukrainian Institute of Mass Information, said there were 30 Ukrainian journalists in Russian captivity. “Where is the exchange, the international community?” she asked in a Facebook post.

Minute of silence in the Ukrainian Parliament

Ukrainian politicians also expressed shock over Rostchyna’s death. The Ukrainian Parliament began its session on October 11 with a minute of silence and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it a “hard blow”.

In a post on Telegram, Zelenskyy also recalled the many other journalists, public figures and ordinary citizens still in captivity in Russia. He said their return had been the main topic of his recent meeting with Pope Francis.

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin opened a criminal investigation into Roshchyna’s death, and the European Union called for an immediate and independent investigation.

“The European Union is dismayed by reports of the death of independent Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna while being illegally and arbitrarily detained in Russia,” said Foreign Affairs and Policy Spokesperson Peter Stano. security of the EU. He added that the EU remained “deeply concerned by Russia’s continued harassment, intimidation and violence against journalists and media workers covering war zones and front lines.”

“We strongly condemn the killings, physical attacks, arbitrary detentions, online and offline intimidation, harassment and surveillance that journalists sometimes face in the exercise of their profession,” he continued, stressing that there can be “no impunity for human rights violations and abuses”. against journalists. »

This article was originally published in Ukrainian.