Ukrainian reporter's death in Russia jail still a mystery

It has been nearly 50 days since a 27-year-old Ukrainian journalist died while imprisoned at a Russian detention facility dubbed "hell on Earth" - but her family and friends are still waiting for the Kremlin to release her body so they can give her a proper funeral.

- ARPAN RAI

Authorities in Russia have not explained why they are yet to return the body of award-winning journalist Victoria Roshchyna, who went missing in August last year, with Ukrainian officials and her ex-colleagues telling The Independent they are concerned the delay could help in the cover-up of the cause of her death.

Russia has previously been accused of silencing critics such as opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in a Russian prison in the Arctic Circle on 16 February this year. The Russian government has repeatedly denied killing political opponents and attributed Navalny’s death to “disease”, but his family and a number of Western governments have said Russia most likely poisoned him.

Roshchyna, described by her former colleagues as an unstoppable force, chased stories from the front line about ordinary people caught in the middle of the Russian invasion. Her father was notified of her death by the Russian authorities in a letter on 19 September.

Ukraine confirmed her death on 10 October, stating she died while being transported from a detention facility in southern Russia’s Taganrog to Moscow. The Taganrog facility is described as a “hell on Earth” for captive Ukrainians, with beatings routinely reported by former prisoners, says Tetiana Katrychenko, executive director at the Media Initiative for Human Rights, a Ukrainian rights group tracking Roshchyna’s case.

The journalist was first reported to have disappeared while reporting from Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia region in August last year. Her father said she called him for the last time on 3 August but they lost contact with her shortly after.