Viktoria Roshchyna, a 27 -year -old Ukrainian investigation journalist, disappeared in August 2023 in the Zaporijia region, occupied by Russia. A year later, she called her family when she was in detention in Russia. It was the only time his parents heard from Viktoria after her disappearance.
During this call in August 2024, Viktoria Roshchyna told her parents that she loved them and that she would return home as part of an exchange of prisoners by September. But in October 2024, his parents received a message of three lines from the Russian authorities, indicating that their daughter died a month earlier.
Viktoria Roshchyna’s family received no other information on the circumstances of her death until last week, when the public prosecutor’s office in Ukraine announced that the body of Viktoria Roshchyna had been identified among other bodies, those of Ukrainian soldiers, repatriated to Ukraine in February. The medical-legal examination has revealed many signs of torture and other inhuman treatments on his body, including bruises, a broken coast and ” Possible signs of electrocution ».
An investigation by Ukrainian and international media revealed that Viktoria Roshchyna was first detained for four months in Melitopol, a city in the Zaporijia region occupied by Russia. She was detained there for secret, and was allegedly tortured in electricity. She was then transferred to a pre -trial detention center in Taganrog, Russia, known as a ” hell on earth And sadly famous for torture inflicted on Ukrainian prisoners of war and civil prisoners.
Human Rights Watch and other organizations have largely documented forced disappearances and acts of torture committed by Russian forces during their occupation of Ukraine. We have found that the Russian occupation forces in the regions of Kherson and Zaporijia have arbitrarily detained, and in some cases made force, civilians, and illegally transferred many people to Russian detention centers where they were tortured.
In March 2025, an investigation by the United Nations concluded that the use of torture and the disappearance forced by the Russian authorities constituted crimes against humanity ” as part of a generalized and systematic attack against the civilian population [ukrainienne]and in accordance with a coordinated state policy ».
The odious treatment inflicted by Russia on Viktoria Roshchyna and his death in detention require an urgent investigation, and highlight the need to do justice for the various atrocities committed by the Russian authorities.
While negotiations continue to end the war waged by Russia against Ukraine, all the actors involved should ensure that, in accordance with international law, no amnesty is granted for serious crimes; The immediate release of thousands of Ukrainian civilians illegally detained by Russia should be a priority. Anyone owned in Russia is exposed to the risk of torture and other ill -treatment.
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