Was the journalist Roshchina, who perished in captivity, brutally tortured?

On March 3, Monday, the investigative film "The Last Assignment of Vika" published by "Slіdstvo.Іnfo" states that Ukrainian journalist Viktoriya Roshchina, captured by Russia in the summer of 2023, was brutally tortured. She had knife wounds on her body, weighed as little as 30 kilograms, and Russian colony staff hid her from examinations, emphasize Ukrainian investigators.

Journalists from "Slіdstvo.Іnfo," along with their colleagues from the "Suspіlne" TV channel and the "Grati" program, as well as the organization "Reporters Without Borders," discovered that Russians initially held Roshchina in illegal detention facilities in the occupied territory of Zaporizhzhia region and then took her to Taganrog, Russia.

Investigators obtained testimony from her cellmate about what happened to her in Melitopol, Energodar, and Taganrog No. 2 investigative prison: she was tortured, and there were wounds on the journalist's body. "I saw several knife wounds on her body — specifically on her hand and leg. There was a new scar in the soft tissues between her hand and elbow. And the scar was about three centimeters long," says her cellmate. Roshchina was also tortured with electric shocks. "I know that they tortured her with electric shocks several times," recalls her cellmate, noting that the current might have been connected to Viktoriya's ear.

Roshchina lost up to 30 kg

"She was always asking for help. At first, she said she had a stomach problem and a fever. Then the women noticed that she was losing a lot of weight. Vika weighed up to 30 kilograms. I would help her get up because she was in such a condition that she couldn't even lift her head," recalls Roshchina's cellmate.

According to her, during an inspection of the colony by the Russian ombudsman, Viktoriya was hidden away and then transferred to a closed room on another floor. The last time the Ukrainian journalist was seen was on September 8, 2024, when she was taken from her cell to an unknown location.

Earlier, "Slіdstvo.Іnfo" journalists had reported on sailor Inga Chekinda, who was captured along with other defenders of Ukraine during the defense of Mariupol. Inga was sitting in the Taganrog investigative prison where Viktoriya Roshchina was held a year later. According to her, the Russians built a large human-sized oven in the prison and used it to interrogate Ukrainian prisoners. She added that prison guards brutally tortured women, beat them, and forced them to engage in sexual acts.
Photo: slidstvo.info