Ukrainian journalist Viktoriya Roshchyna, who was taken prisoner by Russia in the summer of 2023, was severely tortured. This is stated in the investigative film Vika’s Last Task by Slidstvo.info.
Ukrainian journalist Viktoriya Roshchyna was taken prisoner by Russia in August 2023. At that time, she had gone to report from the Russian-occupied territories.
Later, it became known that Viktoriya Roshchyna was being held in the Taganrog Detention Centre No. 2 in the Rostov Region of the Russian Federation. In October 2024, the Russian Ministry of Defence sent a letter to her father, Volodymyr Roshchyn, stating that Viktoriya had died in captivity.
Slidstvo.info journalists, together with Reporters Without Borders and colleagues from Suspilne and Hryta media outlets, discovered that the Russians first captured Viktoriya and held her in torture chambers in the occupied territory of Zaporizhzhya Region before transferring her to Taganrog.
According to Iryna Didenko, a senior prosecutor at the Prosecutor General’s Office working on the Roshchyna case, the Ukrainian journalist was held in prison without being charged.
Slidstvo.info received testimony from Viktoriya’s cellmate, whose name is not being disclosed for security reasons, about what happened to her in the torture chambers and Taganrog SIZO No. 2.
According to the witness, Viktoriya was first detained in Enerhodar (a fact confirmed by investigators from another source) and then in Melitopol. These are unauthorised places of detention set up by the Russians in occupied Ukrainian territory.
A witness from the Taganrog detention centre stated that Viktoriya was tortured. The journalist had stab wounds on her body, inflicted after she was taken into captivity.
“I saw several scars on her body - definitely on her arm and leg. She had a knife wound, well, a fresh scar. Between the hand and elbow, in the soft tissue. And the scar was about three centimetres long,” her cellmate from the Taganrog detention centre recounted.In addition to knife wounds, Viktoriya was also tortured with electricity.
“I know that she was tortured with electricity more than once. She didn’t say how many times, but she said she was all blue,” recalled her cellmate, adding that electric current may have been applied to Viktoriya’s ears.
Over time, the journalist began to lose weight rapidly. Viktoriya refused to eat and constantly asked the other prisoners for help.
When the detention centre staff noticed that Viktoriya was losing weight, the head of the colony came to her cell and spoke to her. She kept insisting that she should be released, exchanged, or deported.
“She was constantly asking for help. At first, she said she had stomach problems, had no periods, and had a fever. Then the women noticed that she was losing a lot of weight. Vika weighed up to 30 kilograms. I was helping her to get up because she was in such a state that she couldn’t even lift her head off the pillow. I would first lift her head, Vika would hold onto the bed handle, and only then could she stand up,” said her cellmate.
According to witnesses, during their detention, there was an inspection by the Russian ombudsman. Viktoriya was hidden from the inspection and transferred to another floor in a locked room.
Vika was last seen on 8 September 2024, when she was taken out of her cell in an unknown direction.
- On 15 March 2022, Russians kidnapped a journalist in Berdyansk who was preparing materials about the hostilities in eastern and southern Ukraine. After that, her whereabouts were unknown for a long time. Later, pro-Russian media and Telegram channels circulated a video in which Roshchyna denied her claims against the Russian services that held her captive and said that they had allegedly saved her life. She was held for 10 days but later released.
- On 3 August 2023, Roshchyna disappeared in the temporarily occupied territory. In May 2024, Russia confirmed for the first time that it was holding her captive.
- On 10 October, it became known that Viktoriya Roshchyna had died. Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets informed the UN and the ICRC to record the death of a civilian illegally detained by Russia.
- Roshchyna was due to be exchanged in September, but her father was informed of her death during the transfer. This statement by the Russian side was verified, and unfortunately, it was confirmed.
- The Office of the Prosecutor General opened a criminal investigation with the qualification of a war crime combined with premeditated murder.
- UNESCO insists on a thorough investigation into the death of journalist Viktoriya Roshchyna in Russian captivity.