The death of journalist Viktoria Roshchyna is classified as a war crime combined with premeditated murder

In connection with the information about the death of Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna in Russia, the criminal proceedings opened over her disappearance have been reclassified as a war crime combined with premeditated murder.

This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General.

The office's website says that the criminal proceedings initiated over her disappearance under Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine have been qualified by Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder. The pre-trial investigation will be conducted by the Main Investigation Department of the Security Service of Ukraine under the procedural control of the Prosecutor General's Office.

Krym.Realii reports that a representative of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War in Ukraine, Petro Yatsenko, said on October 10 that Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna, who went missing during a trip to the occupied territories and was held in Russia, died in Russian captivity.

The Media Initiative for Human Rights reported that Russia was holding Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna in Taganrog Detention Center #2 in Rostov Oblast, Russia, and in penal colony #77 in occupied Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, where prisoners are tortured.

The occupiers first detained Roshchyna in Berdiansk in March 2022, when she was writing reports for the media about life in the temporarily occupied territories. Then the journalist was released, forcing her to record a video message that she had no complaints against the Russian military. Roshchyna returned to the government-controlled territory, but in July 2023, she went back to the occupied territories.

Victoria Roshchyna stopped contacting her family on August 3, 2023. According to her father, on July 27, Roshchyna left Ukraine for Poland and was supposed to reach the occupied territories in eastern Ukraine (via Russia) in three days. At the time, Volodymyr Roshchyn said that the Ukrainian Security Service confirmed to the family that Victoria had been taken prisoner by Russian forces.

Ігор Льов