Russia has returned the body of Viktoria Roshchyna, a 27-year-old award-winning Ukrainian journalist, revealing harrowing details of torture she endured while held captive. Roshchyna was detained in occupied Ukrainian territory and subjected to severe mistreatment under the Russian regime, with her body arriving in a state indicating extreme violence and abuse.
The corpse was found with critical injuries, missing her eyeballs, brain, and part of her larynx, according to investigators. The body bag she was transported in was marked incorrectly as containing an 'unidentified male'. Subsequent DNA testing confirmed the emaciated body, bearing a shaved head and a broken neck bone, was indeed that of Roshchyna. Yuriy Bielousov, a representative of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office, described the body as showing "numerous signs of torture and cruel treatment."
Additional investigations by Ukrainian authorities and independent media outlet Important Stories revealed more graphic evidence of torture, including burn marks on her feet likely caused by electric shocks and a broken rib. It is suspected that internal organs were removed from her body, possibly in an attempt to conceal the extent and nature of the abuse. Experts underlined that the missing larynx could be vital evidence—being crucial in cases of strangulation where the hyoid bone is often broken, and haemorrhages can be found in the eyes and brain due to oxygen deprivation.
Roshchyna had disappeared while on a reporting mission in occupied Ukraine in 2023. Fellow former prisoners of war recounted that she was initially detained in Energodar during the summer of that year. Within three days, she was transferred to Melitopol, where she remained captive for four months, during which she endured torture. Her condition deteriorated severely, including fever, cessation of menstruation, and abdominal pain. Despite her suffering, she reportedly defied her captors, telling guards, "You are occupiers, you came to our country, you kill our people... I will never cooperate with you!"
After Melitopol, Roshchyna was taken to SIZO-2 in Taganrog, described by a former inmate as worse than a concentration camp. Conditions there were reported to be critical, reflecting the harsh treatment political prisoners and detainees face in Russian detention facilities.
The details emerged as part of an ongoing investigation into the treatment of Ukrainian prisoners held by Russian forces. The evidence collected has raised serious concerns regarding the treatment of detainees and the use of torture in such facilities. The Daily Mail is reporting these findings as part of its coverage on the situation of journalists and prisoners of war in the context of the conflict affecting Ukraine.
Source: Noah Wire Services