Freedom House calls for holding Russia accountable for murdering captured Ukrainian journalist

The international human rights organization Freedom House called on the international community to hold Russian authorities fully accountable for the murder of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, whom Russia had captured and imprisoned.

That’s according to Detector Media, Ukrinform reports.

"We join the Helsinki Commission in mourning Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna and urge the international community to hold Russian authorities fully accountable. Roshchyna’s death demonstrates not just how Putin and the Kremlin have routinely violated the fundamental freedoms of the Ukrainian people since launching their full-scale invasion in 2022, but also the immediate dangers faced by every Ukrainian media worker unlawfully detained in Russia—at least 30 according to IMI,” the statement says.

As reported, the death of journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna was reported on October 10 while its circumstances remain unclear. According to Ukraine’s defense intelligence, Roshchyna was set to be included in one of the upcoming POW exchange lists. She was allegedly supposed to be transferred to the Lefortovo prison in Moscow to prepare for her return to Ukraine.

Roshchyna went missing in August last year during a trip to the Russian-occupied territories. It was eventually confirmed that she was captured by Russian security forces. On October 10, the representative of the Coordinating Staff for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Petro Yatsenko, confirmed Roshchyna death in Russian captivity. According to rights activists, the Russians held Roshchyna in two of the most brutal penitentiary facilities.

Ukrainian law enforcers qualified the case into Roshchyna’s death under Art. 438 Part 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with intentional murder).

Russia did not return Roshchyna's body as part of the latest POW exchange on October 18. The Russian side may delay the repatriation of the body in order to conceal physical evidence of the alleged murder.