Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchina, who was illegally detained in Russian Federation prisons for over a year, died in the isolation facility in the city of Kizel, Perm Krai. According to witnesses, in her final days, she was in critical condition and did not receive the necessary medical assistance from the administration of the pre-trial detention center.
This is reported by Finway
Harsh Conditions of Detention and Hunger Strike
After her arrest in the occupied territories of Ukraine in August 2023, Victoria Roshchina was transferred to various Russian prisons, the last of which was Pre-Trial Detention Center No. 3 in Kizel. Eyewitnesses reported that the transport from Taganrog to Kizel took about four days, during which the journalist’s condition significantly deteriorated. She appeared emaciated and had a “yellowish” complexion reminiscent of victims of the Holodomor. Some inmates shared food with her, but Roshchina refused to eat in protest against the torture of other Ukrainian captives.
“Vika isn’t getting up!” On the morning of September 19, 2024, in Pre-Trial Detention Center No. 3 in Kizel, Perm Krai, Russia, Victoria Roshchina did not get out of bed. Detained by Russia since her arrest in August 2023 in the occupied territories of Ukraine, this independent Ukrainian journalist lay motionless. The inmates she shared a cell with alerted the guards. They arrived, evacuated the other inmates, and ordered the journalist to get up – in vain. Then Victoria Roshchina was taken away, but it is impossible to know whether she was still alive or not,” the publication states.
Systematic Violence and Conditions in Prison
According to human rights defenders, brutal conditions prevail in the Kizel isolation facility: Ukrainian captives, both civilians and military personnel, are regularly beaten, including during cell searches. The conditions of detention sharply deteriorate with the onset of cold weather – the cells are overcrowded, damp, and cold, with low temperatures already recorded in September. Over 13 months in such conditions led to severe physical and psychological exhaustion for Roshchina.
After the journalist’s death, her body was handed over to Ukraine in a state that caused outrage: according to the Forbidden Stories consortium, several organs were missing from Roshchina’s body, including the brain, larynx, and eyes, and there were signs of torture. This condition of the body made it impossible to conduct an independent examination to determine the cause of death, as reported by the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine. The agency emphasized that Russia has repeatedly returned the bodies of Ukrainians in similar conditions, obstructing investigations.
Ukrainian law enforcement has launched a pre-trial investigation against the director of the Kizel pre-trial detention center, Vyacheslav Perevozkin, who is suspected of torturing and killing Ukrainian captives. Investigative actions are also ongoing against the head of the isolation facility in Taganrog, where the journalist was previously held.
It should be noted that in October 2024, news of Victoria Roshchina’s death in Russian captivity became known. According to updated information, she died on September 19, 2024, in Pre-Trial Detention Center No. 3 in Kizel, where she had been transferred eight days before her death.