•People kneel during the funeral ceremony for Victoria Roshchyna, a Ukrainian journalist who died while in captivity in Russia
Dozens of mourners packed into a cathedral in central Kyiv today to pay their respects to an independent journalist, Victoria Roshchyna, who died in Russian captivity last year, aged 27.
Her body, which Russia returned in February, remained in a closed coffin throughout the service, reports AFP.
Roshchyna, who worked freelance for several Ukrainian news outlets, disappeared in August 2023 on a reporting trip to the Moscow-held part of Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region.
She died in Russian detention just over one year later, her body showing “numerous signs of torture” including abrasions and a broken rib, according to Kyiv.
The circumstances of her arrest were never made public, and Russia has not explained her death.
The priest at the funeral service said she had endured “torments”.
“The most important thing in journalism is to report the truth. And they don’t really like the truth,” he said, referring to Russia.
Many in the crowd were fellow reporters, some of whom wept when the cameras were turned off.
•People carry the coffin and a portrait of late journalist, Victoria Roshchyna
A joint investigation by Reporters Without Borders and Ukrainian investigative news outlet Slidstva reported that she was arrested in Energodar in southern Ukraine, and later held for several weeks in the Russian-held city of Melitopol.
From there, she was transferred to a jail in the Russian port city of Taganrog.
Upon arrival, she had scars and “knife wounds” on her body, the investigation found, citing a cellmate.
During her time in Taganrog, she stopped eating and was placed in solitary confinement, according to the investigation.
Thousands of Ukrainians opposed to Moscow’s rule have been detained in occupied territories since Russia’s invasion in 2022, many of whom face torture at the hands of security forces, according to rights groups.
‘Premediated murder’
Ukraine said it would press criminal charges against the governor of the prison in Taganrog where she was held, alleging she was subjected to “systemic torture, beatings, humiliation, threats, severe restrictions on access to medical care, drinking water, and food”.
It has described her death as “premeditated murder” and accused Russia of a war crime.
A UN expert panel last year demanded that the Russian government provide answers over her death.
Russia does not comment on the treatment of individual prisoners but says it is committed to investigating torture and abuse in its penal system.
During the funeral service, her father, Volodymyr, fixed his eyes on the coffin while her sister looked on.
They held hands throughout the ceremony.
Angelina Karyakina, editor-in-chief at Ukrainian news outlet Hromadske for whom Roshchyna worked, described her as a tireless and ambitious journalist who preferred to work alone.
“She didn’t like to depend on other people.
“She would take the camera herself, often shoot photos and videos on her own, and was a one-woman band,” she told our reporter.
Roshchyna worked for various independent news outlets, including Ukrainska Pravda, and had collaborated with the Ukrainian service of US-funded media outlet Radio Free Europe.
In 2022, she was awarded the Courage in Journalism award by the International Women’s Media Foundation for her reporting from eastern Ukraine.
After the church service, the mourners moved to Kyiv’s main square, where Radio Liberty editor Taras Ilkiv paid tribute to her “historic work” in the occupied territories, his voice breaking.
“I am convinced that Viktoria believed like no one else that these are our people, in Mariupol, in Berdyansk, in Kherson,” he said, referring to cities that Russia had captured at various points in the war.
“Almost no one is capable of such work,” he said.
