Ukrainian journalist dies in prison in Russia - MediaTalks on Facto News

London – Ukrainian freelance journalist Victoria Roshchyna died in a Russian prison more than a year after she disappeared during a trip to document the war in Ukraine’s occupied territories.

Roshchyna, 27, wrote for local and international outlets such as Ukrayinska Pravda, Hromadske and Radio Free Europe. She was recognized in 2022 with the Courage in Journalism award by the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF).

The death was confirmed in a letter from the Russian Ministry of Defense received by his family on October 10.

The International Federation of Journalists reported that she died in a Russian prison, but the circumstances of her death remain unknown.

Andrii Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, told the country’s media that Roshchyna would be included in a future prisoner exchange.

The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office declared that the case will be investigated as a “war crime and murder”.

According to the organization Reporters Without Borders, Roshcyna is the 13th journalist to die due to her work since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

RSF claims that around a hundred Ukrainian and foreign journalists have been victims of abuse by Russian occupation forces.

Nineteen are still detained by Russia, which refuses to provide information about the detention of some of them, as was the case with Victoria Roshchyna.

Journalist had already gone to prison

Throughout her career, Ukrainian Victoria Roshchyna has covered complex and dangerous topics, including crimes, trials and human rights violations.

At the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine, in March 2022, she was arrested by the Russian army and remained detained for 10 days in Berdyansk.

During his detention, the agency forced Roshchyna to record a video saying he had no complaints about prison conditions and that Russian forces had “saved his life.”

On her last mission, the journalist had left Poland for occupied territories in Ukraine via Russia on July 27th.

On August 3, she reported to her family that she had been subjected to border checks, without specifying which country. On August 12, the family notified the Ukrainian government about their disappearance after several days without news about their whereabouts.

Shortly after losing contact with his daughter, in August last year, the journalist’s father, Vladimir Roshchyn, told the press that he was “heartbroken” and that he had recommended that she not expose herself so much after her first arrest.

“But she was firm – she can’t stop covering the news of this war in the occupied territories for her readers,” he said.

Ukraine confirmed the arrest by Russia

Her father reported at the time that Ukraine confirmed that she had been captured by Russia, as one of the so-called “frozen” prisoners, as there was no official news about them.

President of the Union of Journalists of Ukraine Sergiy Tomilenko said:

“We are deeply shocked by the death of our colleague Viktoria Roshchyna (…). We call for an immediate and full international investigation into Russian captivity and the circumstances surrounding his death.

Furthermore, we call on the international community to intensify pressure on Russia to secure the release of all Ukrainian journalists illegally detained by the occupiers.”

In a statement, the International Women’s Media Foundation declared it was “devastated” by the news of the death.

“This is not just the loss of a remarkable woman, but of an intrepid witness to history.

Regardless of the cause of her death, we can say with certainty that her life was taken because she dared to tell the truth.

The organization also called on the international community to pressure Russia to “stop attacking journalists and silencing press freedom”.