According to an investigation, the body of a Ukrainian journalist kidnapped and killed by Russians was returned to her home country with her eyes and brain missing, which likely obscured the torture she endured.
Victoria Roshchyna’s brain, eyes, and larynx were removed before her body was returned to Ukraine in February, two and a half years after she disappeared in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories in August 2023, according to a report.
Roshchyna’s body was identified as a “unidentified male” when it was handed over as part of an exchange of 757 Ukrainian remains.
An unusual Russian marking, “SPAS,” possibly meaning “total arterial damage to the heart,” found on the Russian listing may reflect the officially listed cause of death.
The 27-year-old’s body was significantly smaller and lighter than the others, according to the report.
The gruesome treatment of the body could have been done to conceal how badly she was tortured in Russian captivity, according to a report published on Tuesday by Forbidden Stories.
Nonetheless, the body showed obvious signs of torture, such as abrasions, hemorrhages, a broken rib, and possible evidence of electric shocks, according to Yuriy Belousov, head of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office’s war crimes department.
A bruise on her neck could indicate strangulation, according to the report.
Due to the mummified state of the body, the official cause of death is still unknown, with Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General arranging additional tests, according to the report.
Her father has also requested additional foreign exams, according to Ukrainian outlet Hromadske.
Russia only confirmed Roshchyna’s detention in May 2024, nine months after her disappearance.
According to the Media Initiative for Human Rights, she was detained at a brutal penal colony in Berdyansk, eastern Ukraine, which is one of Russia’s harshest facilities for Ukrainians.
She then died while being transported to Moscow from a pre-trial detention center in Taganrog, Russia, just across the border.
Roshchyna wrote for several Ukrainian publications as well as Radio Free Europe.
She was previously detained by the Russians for ten days during the early stages of the war in March 2022, earning the International Women’s Media Foundation’s 2022 Courage in Journalism Award.
