Russia has returned the body of a Ukrainian journalist who was captured in the east occupied Ukraine And then he died in Russian custody, a Ukrainian legislator said Thursday.
Victoria RoshchynaWho died at age 27, disappeared in August 2023 on a report trip to the Moscow hero part of Ukranes Zaporizhzhia region After traveling through Russian territory.
He remained missing until April 2024, when his father remembered a letter from the Ministry of Defense of Moscow saying that he was arrested in Russian detention.
The circumstances of the sentence were not made public and Russia did not explain his death, he reported for the first time in October 2024.
Yan Dobronosov/Global Images Ukraine through Getty Images 
“Victoria Roshchyna’s body is in Ukraine. The journalist’s body was returned as part of an exchange at the end of February,” said Ukrainian legislator Yaroslav Yurchyshyn.
The authorities chose not to reveal that his body had returned to Bone until they were absolutely sure that it was she, Yurchyshyn said.
“Given the torture and body condition, Roshchyna’s family did not request not one, but several DNA examine,” he added.
A joint investigation carried out by reporters without borders and a half of communication of Ukrainian research Slidstva discovered that it was arrested in Engodar in southern Ukraine, and then hero for several weeks in the city of Melitopol in the Russian hero.
From there, it was transferred to a prison in the Russian port city of Tagangag. The investigation said she asked for eating in prison and had “knife wounds” in her body, according to her cell partner.
Russia does not usually comment on the treatment of individual prisoners, but says it investigates cases of torture in its criminal system.
Thousands of Ukrainians opposed to the Moscow government have arrested on the legs in occupied territories since the invasion of Russia in 2022, many or who face torture at the hands of the security forces, according to the slim of rights. Last year, BBC Russia reported that thousands of Ukrainian civilians, including journalists, in Russian custody were arrested without charges or access to legal advice.
Roshchyna worked as a freelancer for several independent media, including Ukrainska Pravda, and had collaborated with the Ukrainian Free Europe Europe Europe.
In March 2022, Roshchina was arrested by the Russian forces for 10 days while reporting in southeastern Ukraine, according to the committee to protect journalists.
In 2022, the International International Media Foundation of Women’s Media granted him courage in journalism for his reports of eastern Ukraine.
“Victoria’s death is not only the loss of a notable woman, but an intrepid witness of history,” the group said in a statement after his death. “Regardless of his cause of death, we can say with certainty that his life was tasks,
The committee to protect journalists also condemned Moscow for the death of Roshchina.
“The responsibility for death falls to the Russian authorities, who arrested her for daring to inform the truth about the Russian-Ukraine War,” said the CPJS Europe and Central Asia program in a statement. “The Ukrainian and Russian authorities must do everything in their possession to investigate the death of Roshchina.”