Murder of Viktoria Roshchyna: statement of Ukrainian media professionals collects more than 270 signatures
Kyiv • UNN
275 Ukrainian journalists signed a statement calling on the international community to address the murder of Victoria Roshchyna in Russian captivity. They demand active action from the UN, OSCE, PACE and ICRC.
A statement by Ukrainian journalists and media professionals calling on the international community to take decisive and immediate action in connection with the murder of Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchina in Russian captivity has collected 275 signatures. The journalists called, in particular, on such organizations as the UN, OSCE, PACE and ICRC to take active action in accordance with their mandates, UNN reports with reference to IMI.
The statement was published on October 11 on the website of the Institute of Mass Information. The signatories include representatives of the Ukrainian media sphere, human rights activists, foreign journalists and concerned citizens. The statement is still open for signing.
"Knowing that Victoria Roshchyna had been in detention for more than a year and that she was physically healthy before her Russian captivity, we have every reason to believe that her death was either the result of a premeditated murder or the result of the ill-treatment and violence she suffered while in Russian captivity," the statement reads, the full text of which can be found here.
Context
As IMI reported, the death of Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna in Russian custody became known on October 10, 2024. According to a letter from the Russian Ministry of Defense received by her family on October 10, Victoria died on September 19.
Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets said that he had official documentary confirmation from the Russian side of the death of Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna. The news of her death was also confirmed by a representative of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Petro Yatsenko.
Victoria Roshchyna was on the exchange list.
Earlier, Russia acknowledged that it had detained Victoria Roshchyna, who disappeared on August 3, 2023, in the temporarily occupied territory. Victoria was on Russian territory.
On October 11, law enforcement officers reclassified the criminal proceedings initiated over Roshchyna's disappearance under Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine to Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - violation of the laws and customs of war combined with premeditated murder.
On October 11, the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, said that the journalist's body would be handed over to her family in the near future.
The NGO Media Initiative for Human Rights (MHR) reported that Victoria was held in one of the most brutal detention centers in Russia.
