Press Body Demands Justice after Death of Ukrainian Journalist

News

Press freedom advocates are calling on the Kremlin to open an investigation into the death of a Ukrainian journalist who died under suspicious circumstances while in Russian custody, more than a year after going missing.

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Reported by

Jonathan Cole
October 15th, 2024
Threatened Journalists
Ukraine

The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), an NGO that supports journalists and monitors press freedoms in Europe, along with other press NGOs, issued a joint statement on Monday to “mourn and demand justice for [journalist] Victoria Roshchyna.”

The organizations urged Russia “to clarify the circumstances of [her] death and bring to justice all those who may be responsible.”

The Russian Ministry of Defence confirmed that Roshchyna, a freelance journalist for Ukrainska Pravda and other leading Ukrainian outlets, died while in the custody of the Russian Armed Forces on October 2.

She had gone missing while reporting from Russian-held territory, having left Kyiv for southeastern Ukraine in July 2023. Russian authorities confirmed her custody in a letter to her family in April of this year.

Roshchyna was one of the “very few” Ukrainian journalists reporting from Russian-occupied territory, according to the MFRR statement.

A spokesperson for Ukrainian military intelligence told Suspilne, a local media outlet, that the now-deceased journalist was supposed to be included in an upcoming prisoner exchange.

MFRR also welcomed the investigation opened by Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General on the grounds of “war crime combined with premeditated murder.”

Other signatories of the statement included Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

The confirmation of Roshchyna’s death comes just a couple of weeks before the scheduled publication of Alexei Navalny’s memoir, “Patriot”.

Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner and long-time prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, died in a Russian penal colony in February.

His wife, Yulia, has accused the Russian government of withholding his body to cover up his killing.