Yurchyshyn addresses Prosecutor General over the torture of Viktoria Roshchyna

Illustration by Ukrainian Pravda

Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, Chair of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, has submitted a parliamentary address to the Prosecutor General’s Office to bring the Russian citizens identified by the international investigation “Project Viktoria” to justice.

MP Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, Chair of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, announced this in a Telegram post on May 8.

He asks the Prosecutor General’s Office for a legal assessment of the facts set forth in the journalistic investigation and to inform him whether proceedings in the case have been opened.

In the address, he lists the names of 10 Russian officials of prisons and pre-trial detention centers who, according to the investigation, are complicit in the torture of Ukrainians.

“It is Ukraine that should initiate the prosecution of all those butchers who torture our people. Thanks to the investigation by Forbidden Stories and other media outlets, we have learned the names of the probable perpetrators – the heads of pre-trial detention centers and prisons,” Yurchyshyn wrote.

On May 6, Ukrainska Pravda released Part 2 of the international investigation "Project Viktoria" into the death of journalist Viktoria Roshchyna. The second part of the investigation discusses how Russia created a prison system for torturing inmates, which prisons are considered the most brutal, and the names of those personally involved in torturing Ukrainians.

Victoria Roshchyna's death

The investigation “Viktoriia Project”, which was released by Ukrainska Pravda in partnership with Forbidden Stories and multiple international media outlets on April 29, found that Russia had handed over to Ukraine the body of journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, which was listed in the documents as an “unidentified male” and had a single label of unclear meaning: SPAS. During the examination, it turned out that some internal organs were missing from the body. In particular, the brain, eyeballs, and part of the trachea.

On April 24, Yuriy Belousov, chair of the War Department at the Prosecutor General's Office, said that the forensic medical examination had failed to identify the causes of death of journalist Viktoria Roshchina, who died in Russian custody, due to the body's state. However, numerous signs of torture were found on Viktoria's body.

It was reported on April 24 that the body of Victoria Roshchyna had been brought back to Ukraine in late February this year. She was identified through DNA testing.

The death of Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna in Russian detention was reported on October 10, 2024. Petro Yatsenko of the Coordinating Headquarters for POW Treatment confirmed reports of Viktoria Roshchyna's death.

Viktoria Roshchyna's name was on the swap lists, according to Defense Intelligence representative Andriy Yusov.

Russia earlier admitted detaining Viktoria Roshchyna, who went missing on August 3, 2023 in the temporarily occupied territory. Viktoria was held captive in Russia.

Slidstvo.Info discovered that Victoria Roshchyna was brutally tortured in Russian custody: there were stab wounds on her body, the journalist weighed under 30 kilograms, and Russian prison officers hid her from checks.