Russia hasn't returned body of journalist Roshchyna to Ukraine; Ukrainian Headquarters for Treatment of PoWs suspects cover-up
Russia has not returned the body of journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, who died in Russian captivity, during the exchange on 18 October. The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War suspect that Russia is trying to hide evidence of a crime.
Source: Petro Yatsenko, representative of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, in a comment to Suspilne
Quote: "On 18 October, the body of Viktoriia was not handed over as part of the repatriation process. The Coordination Headquarters is doing everything possible and impossible to get answers to the questions that concern our society…
The work to repatriate her body began immediately after the report of her death. This work is ongoing. Unfortunately, this depends on the other side [Russia], so we cannot give an exact date for the repatriation."
Details: Yatsenko said that it is too early to comment on the cause of the journalist's death or whether she was subjected to torture.
He also emphasised that Russia may be delaying the repatriation to conceal evidence of a potential crime.
Read Viktoriia Roshchyna's articles for Ukrainska Pravda
Background:
- The 58th prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine took place on 18 October, with 95 Ukrainian defenders returning home.
- On 10 October, Petro Yatsenko, Head of the Press Service of the Coordination Headquarters, announced during the national joint 24/7 newscast that Viktoriia Roshchyna, a freelance journalist for Ukrainska Pravda, had died in Russian captivity. According to Ukrainian Defence Intelligence, she was supposed to be brought back to Ukraine soon.
- Later, Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) Commissioner for Human Rights, confirmed that Russia had acknowledged the journalist's death.
- The Russian Ministry of Defence reported that her death occurred on 19 September 2024. They also mentioned that her body would be returned to Ukraine as part of a prisoner body exchange.
- On 11 October, the Prosecutor General’s Office stated that the criminal case concerning the disappearance of Viktoriia Roshchyna had been reclassified as a war crime combined with premeditated murder.
- Viktoriia Roshchyna disappeared on 3 August 2023 in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine, where she was carrying out her journalistic work and planning to document the lives of people under Russian occupation. In May 2024, Russia admitted for the first time that they had detained Roshchyna. The Russian Ministry of Defence sent a letter confirming this to her father, Volodymyr Roshchyn.
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