New documentary alleges torture of Ukrainian journalist who died in Russian custody

Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, who died in Russian captivity in September, was tortured before her death according to a documentary about the late journalist’s last months that came out on Monday.

Made by Slidstvo.Info, a team of independent Ukrainian journalists, with Reporters Without Borders and Ukrainian media outlets Suspilne and Graty, Viki’s Last Assignment describes how Roshchyna was detained in August 2023 while reporting from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.

Roshchyna, who was 27 at the time of her death, worked as a freelance journalist for independent news outlets including Ukrainska Pravda, Hromadske, and Radio Free Europe. While she was originally held in the Ukrainian cities of Enerhodar and Melitopol, she was later transferred to a pretrial detention centre under the control of Russia’s notorious Federal Security Service (FSB) in the southern Russian city of Taganrog.

Roshchyna arrived at the detention centre with stab wounds, according to a cellmate, who asked to remain anonymous. “I saw several scars on her … arm and leg. She had a knife wound, a fresh straight scar in the soft tissue between her hand and elbow, which was about 3 centimetres long,” she said. She also said Roshchyna had told her that she had been tortured with electric shocks, which left her “all blue”.

In the FSB-run detention centre in Taganrog, Roshchyna began suffering rapid weight loss and repeatedly asked the staff for help, complaining of stomach problems, interrupted menstruation and fever. “The women noticed she was losing a lot of weight. She weighed under 30kg”, her cellmate said. She was last seen alive on 8 September when being moved from her cell, according to the documentary.

Roshchyna’s death was announced on 10 October by Ukrainian media and officials, citing the Russian Defence Ministry. Slidstvo.Info published a screenshot of the document received by Roshchyna’s father, which says she died on 19 September.

Andriy Yusov, a representative of Ukraine’s military intelligence, told Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne at the time that Roshchyna had been due to be included in a planned prisoner exchange between Moscow and Kyiv, and that it was what while she was being transferred to Moscow’s Lefortovo prison ahead of the swap that she died.