Brussels — May 1, 2025 — The European Commission has issued a strong condemnation following the revelation that Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna was tortured and murdered while in Russian captivity.
The Commission denounced the incident as a harrowing example of the brutality of Russian occupation and renewed its commitment to seeking justice for war crimes committed by Russian forces.
Speaking at a daily press briefing on April 30, Commission spokesperson Anitta Hipper described the findings of a sweeping international investigation into Roshchyna’s death as “deeply disturbing” and said they “once again underscore that life under Russian occupation poses a mortal threat to Ukrainians.”
Roshchyna, 27, had gone missing in August 2023 while reporting from Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine. Russian authorities only acknowledged her detention in 2024.
Ukraine officially confirmed her death on October 10, 2024, although Russian sources claimed she died weeks earlier, on September 19. Her remains were returned to Ukraine in late February 2025, five months after her death.
The investigation into her death was led by the Forbidden Stories journalism network and involved more than 40 journalists from 13 international media outlets.
The team conducted over 50 interviews with former detainees, ex-prison guards, and human rights advocates. According to Hipper, the inquiry revealed a “pattern of systemic torture” and provided irrefutable evidence that Roshchyna’s death was not only a murder but a war crime.
Ukrainian forensic experts who examined her body reported multiple signs of torture, including suspected electrocution and strangulation.
A fractured hyoid bone and bruising on her neck strongly suggested asphyxiation. Alarmingly, her body was found to be missing several internal organs, including her brain, eyes, and part of her trachea—an act experts say may have been intended to obscure the cause of death.
The corpse was initially mislabeled in Russian custody as an “unidentified male,” tagged with the number 757. Only after extensive forensic testing in Ukraine was the body conclusively identified as Roshchyna’s, with 99% DNA certainty.
Russian documents had marked the body with the acronym “SPAS,” allegedly indicating “total failure of the arteries of the heart,” a term that Ukrainian experts believe was fabricated to provide a false official explanation for her death.
Roshchyna had been held in at least two facilities known for torture: penal colony No. 77 in Russian-occupied Berdiansk and detention center No. 2 in Taganrog, Russia.
This was not her first encounter with Russian authorities. In March 2022, she was detained by Russia’s FSB for 10 days and coerced into recording a video in which she claimed Russian forces had saved her life.
Her death has sparked outrage among press freedom advocates and international human rights organizations. “Her courage will be remembered,” Hipper stated. “The European Union remains steadfast in its resolve to hold Russia accountable for its atrocities.”
The Media Initiative for Human Rights and other organizations are now calling for further international investigations and the prosecution of those responsible for her death.