Journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna was held in one of Russia's most brutal detention centres – human rights advocate

Viktoriia Roshchyna, a freelance writer for Ukrainska Pravda whose death in Russian captivity was recently confirmed, was held in Detention Centre No. 2 in Taganrog, Rostov Oblast, Russia. Former prisoners have described this facility as notorious for its extreme torture methods.

Source: Tetiana Katrychenko, Executive Director of the human rights organisation Media Initiative for Human Rights (MIPL)

Details: The human rights advocate revealed that Roshchyna was held in at least two prisons: Penal Colony No. 77 in temporarily occupied Berdiansk, and Detention Centre No. 2 in Taganrog, Russia.

"Both facilities have been used by the Russians since the first months of the full-scale invasion to detain both Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, including women," Katrychenko noted.

Quote: "Taganrog (and Berdiansk too, where they tortured prisoners with electric shocks) is known as one of the most brutal places for Ukrainians in Russia. It's called hell on earth. In particular, Azov fighters from Azovstal are held there. Released prisoners recount horrific torture. There, everyone who the Russians want to label as criminals is forced to confess to crimes they did not commit. Later, they are transferred to Rostov for trial."

Details: Katrychenko added: "Viktoriia was held in Taganrog from at least May to September 2024, in solitary confinement. Just before a planned exchange on 13 September 2024, she and at least one other woman from occupied Melitopol were taken out of Taganrog. It is unknown where they were taken to."

Detention Centre No. 2 in Taganrog is considered one of the most notorious in Russia for its brutality. Defenders of Mariupol have been sent there since April 2022.

Released prisoners of war have reported that the guards at Taganrog use rubber batons, wooden hammers and electric shock devices for torture. Prisoners are beaten at intake and during daily searches and interrogations. During interrogations, detainees are forced to confess to crimes they did not commit.

Quote: A released soldier, whose name was withheld by MIPL for security reasons, said: "A man shared my cell. He was taken away for interrogations every day. The Abkhaz guards told him they would beat him until he signed a confession. They waterboarded him – put a cloth over his face and poured water on it. As a result, he signed everything."

Another former prisoner added: "We heard screams constantly – someone was always being beaten. Sometimes the screams would go on for 15-20 minutes, and afterwards the person would not be able to stand. They’d be thrown back into the cell, almost unconscious."

Read Viktoriia Roshchyna’s articles for Ukrainska Pravda.  

Previously:

• On 10 October 2024, Petro Yatsenko, the head of the press service of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, said during the 24/7 national joint newscast that Viktoriia Roshchyna had died in Russian custody. Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence said she had been due to be brought back to Ukraine in the near future.
• Dmytro Lubinets, Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, later said he had received confirmation of Roshchyna’s death from the Russian side.
• On 11 October, the Office of the Prosecutor General announced that the criminal case opened in connection with Roshchyna’s disappearance had been reclassified as a war crime combined with premeditated murder. 

Background: 

• In March 2022, Viktoriia Roshchyna was captured by the Russians and held for 10 days in Berdiansk, Donetsk Oblast.
• In 2022, she wrote a series of articles from the temporarily occupied territories for Ukrainska Pravda. Her work included stories about life in occupied Crimea during the war, the sham referendum in occupied Donetsk Oblast, and a photo report from the devastated city of Mariupol. 
• On 25 July 2023, Roshchyna left Ukraine for Poland, planning to make the three-day journey via Russia to the occupied part of Ukraine's east.
• Roshchyna disappeared on 3 August 2023 while reporting from Russian-occupied territory.
• It was not until May 2024 that Russia admitted to having detained Roshchyna. The Russian Defence Ministry sent a letter confirming this to her father, Volodymyr Roshchyn.

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