Numerous signs of torture were found on the body of journalist Roshchina, the cause of death has not yet been established

Numerous signs of torture and ill-treatment were found on the body of journalist Victoria Roshchina, but the cause of death has not yet been established due to the condition of the body. This was stated by Yuriy Belousov, Head of the Department for Combating Crimes Committed in the Context of Armed Conflict, Office of the Prosecutor General, during a briefing, UNN reports.

Details

According to Belousov, on October 17, 2023, at the request of the editor-in-chief of Ukrayinska Pravda and human rights activist Lyudmila Yankina, the Prosecutor General's Office launched an investigation into the illegal imprisonment of Victoria Roshchina.

We qualified it as a war crime and qualified it under Article 438, Part 1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. We started conducting investigative actions accordingly. In October 2024, information was received that Ms. Victoria died while in captivity. Accordingly, another criminal proceeding was registered, which were combined with each other. On February 25 of this year, several dozen bodies were delivered to Vinnytsia as a result of the exchange. Why Vinnytsia, because during the exchange, as you know, there is an exchange of the dead, and these bodies are transported to different regions of Ukraine due to the need to conduct a large number of examinations. On February 28 of this year, during the inspection of these bodies, a tag was found on one of these bodies with the name Roshchina 

He noted that a molecular examination was ordered to identify her body, to confirm that it was her.

Experts took DNA samples from both of Victoria's parents. According to the results of this examination, the expert concluded that with a probability of more than 99%, the body belongs to Ms. Victoria. The parents of the deceased journalist filed a request for an additional examination to identify the body. The issue of conducting an additional body identification with the involvement of French colleagues is currently being resolved 

In addition, according to him, at the same time, in February 2025, a forensic medical examination was ordered to establish the cause of death, existing bodily injuries and the nature of their infliction.

According to its results, numerous signs of torture and ill-treatment were found on the body of the deceased, including abrasions and hemorrhages on various parts of the body, a broken rib and possible traces of electric shock. However, due to the condition of the body, it was not possible to initially establish the cause of death. Therefore, the necessary samples were taken and the issue of conducting an additional forensic medical examination with the participation of French experts to establish the cause of death and the nature of the detected bodily injuries is currently being resolved 

Let us remind you

Today, April 24, the chairman of the parliamentary committee on freedom of speech, People's Deputy Yaroslav Yurchyshyn reported that the body of Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchina, who died in Russian captivity, was returned to Ukraine as part of an exchange at the end of February.