Numerous signs of torture' Final months of Ukrainian journalist held in Russian jails

profile civilians detained since the full-scale invasion. The journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna was captured in the summer of 2023 near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station.

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profile civilians detained since the full-scale invasion. The journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna was captured in the summer of 2023 near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station. It was at least her fourth reporting trip into the occupied territories. She was by this stage of the war the only Ukrainian journalist prepared to risk crossing the frontline in order to pierce the information blackout imposed by Russia.

Roshchyna died after a year in detention, aged 27.

Information on the circumstances of her death is limited. Roshchyna was held without charge and without access to a lawyer. During her detention, her only known contact with the outside world was a four-minute phone call to her parents, a full year after she was taken.

Preliminary forensics suggest "numerous signs of torture", according to the prosecutor: burn marks on her feet from electric shocks, abrasions on the hips and head, and a broken rib. Her hair, which she liked to wear long and tinted blonde at the tips, had been shaved.

Sources close to the official Ukrainian investigation have also disclosed that the hyoid bone in her neck was broken. It is the kind of damage that can occur during strangulation.

However, the exact cause of death may never be known because when her body was returned during the exchange on 14 February, certain parts were missing, namely the brain, eyes and larynx.

A war crimes investigation has been opened with a view to prosecuting those responsible.