«Numerous Traces of Torture and Autopsy». Forbidden Stories Investigated the Death of Journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna

Forbidden Stories, an international editorial office, is based in Paris and studies the work of journalists who have died, been persecuted or imprisoned due to their professional activities. As soon as it became known on 10 October 2024 that the Ukrainian reporter Viktoriia Roshchyna had perished, the editorial office initiated the Viktoriia Project to bring to an end the investigation of her death. 45 journalists from the Ukrainska Pravda outlet joined the initiative by interviewing over 50 people who had survived the Russian imprisonment and knew the system from within.

For six months, Forbidden Stories has been investigating the circumstances of Viktoriia’s stay in Russian captivity. Documents, testimonies and court files were analysed in depth. Ukrainska Pravda talked to 48 former prisoners, four former prison guards and eight Russian human rights activists. 13 international media including The Guardian, The Washington Post, Le Monde, Die Zeit, Der Spiegel, ZDF, Paper Trail Media, IStories, France 24, and DerStandart also joined the investigation.

Besides, the Forbidden Stories editorial office has continued Viktoriia Roshchyna’s work on the stories of Ukrainian “other-worldly prisoners”. These are, according to rough estimates, over 16,000 civilians detained in the temporarily occupied territories and in the Russian Federation.
During the exchange of 14 February 2025, the bodies of 757 fallen defenders were returned to Ukraine. Among them, there was also Viktoriia Roshchyna’s body, under number 757, having the “unidentified male” and “SPAS” marks. The SPAS abbreviation may indicate the “official cause of death” established by Russia, meaning “total damage to heart arteries”. An examination conducted by investigators from the Office of the Prosecutor General found a 99% match with the DNA of journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna.

The journalists managed to determine that the body of the journalist who died in a Russian prison had numerous signs of torture, ill-treatment and autopsy marks and possible signs of electric shock use. It also lacked some internal organs, including the brain, eyeballs and a part of the trachea. An international pathologist told the Viktoriia Project that the absence of these organs may have hidden the fact that the death occurred due to strangulation or suffocation.

“This international investigation restores the voice of journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna and, moreover, throws light on one of the darkest pages of the Russian-Ukrainian war, calling for justice and accountability for crimes perpetrated against civilians,” Ukrainska Pravda writes. 

The investigation page can be accessed by clicking on it.