Indicators and photos of these killed, together with journalists, are displayed on a fence throughout a protest in opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in Lafayette Park close to the White Home on March 13, 2022, in Washington.
Alex Brandon/AP
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Alex Brandon/AP
Victoria Roshchyna, a Ukrainian journalist held captive by Russia for greater than a yr, died whereas in Russian detention, Ukrainian officers confirmed Thursday.
Petro Yatsenko, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Prisoners of Warfare Coordination Headquarters, advised Ukrainian tv that the circumstances surrounding Roshchyna’s loss of life have been nonetheless unclear.
“It is too early to talk about the circumstances of the death, we are working to establish them,” Yatsenko stated.
Based on a assertion from the press freedom watchdog Reporters With out Borders, or RSF, Roshchyna’s household obtained a letter on Thursday from Russia’s Protection Ministry informing them that she died on Sept. 19.
Roshchyna, who would have turned 28 this month, was one among 20 Ukrainian journalists detained by Russia for his or her reporting for the reason that begin of Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, in response to RSF.
She was recognized for her options documenting every day life in Russian-occupied jap Ukraine, went lacking on Aug. 3, 2023, whereas touring on task to the Russian-occupied city of Zaporizhzhia, in response to the Worldwide Ladies’s Media Basis. Her whereabouts have been unknown for eight months till Russia’s Protection Ministry confirmed her detention in April 2024.
“The Russian authorities have never provided any information about her detention, despite repeated requests from her family, the Ukrainian authorities, and RSF,” stated Jeanne Cavelier, the top of RSF’s Japanese Europe and Central Asia Desk. She added: [Russia] should make clear all of the circumstances surrounding her detention and loss of life. Our ideas and assist exit to her family members.”
On social media, associates and colleagues expressed shock, with some additionally demanding extra solutions from Russia about Roshchyna’s loss of life.
“I have a question. What did they do with her? What could have been done to a young girl to make her die?” Oleksandra Matviichuk, the top of the nonprofit Heart for Civil Liberties Ukraine wrote on X. “I call on all journalistic organizations from different countries to officially demand an answer from Russia.”
Nataliya Gumenyuk, a Ukrainian journalist and former colleague of Roshchyna’s, remembered her as “the bravest, the most determined, adding “she risked to inform the reality about occupation.”
According to the independent Russian news outlet Mediazona, Roshchyna died while she was in the process of being transferred from a prison in Taganrog, near the Ukrainian border, to Moscow.
Roshchyna was the winner of the 2022 Courage in Journalism award from the International Women’s Media Foundation, or IWMF. In a statement, the IWMF said it was “devastated” to learn of Roshchyna’s death.
“Victoria’s passing is not only the lack of a exceptional girl, however of an intrepid witness to historical past. No matter her reason behind loss of life, we are able to say with certainty that her life was taken as a result of she dared inform the reality. We hope her loss of life is not going to be in useless: the worldwide neighborhood should strain Russia to stop focusing on journalists and silencing press freedom.”
