WASHINGTON—U.S. Helsinki Commission Chairman Senator Roger Wicker (MS), Co-Chairman Representative Joe Wilson (SC-02), Ranking Member Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), and Ranking Member Representative Steve Cohen (TN-09) today expressed their outrage over Russia’s torture and murder of Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna. In 2023, Russian forces captured Roshchyna, eventually sending her to a pre-trial detention center in Taganrog. She was last seen alive in September 2024, weeks before she was scheduled to be released in a prisoner exchange. After Russia returned her body to Ukraine in February, Ukrainian coroners were able to confirm that she was tortured.
“For almost two years, we prayed that Viktoria would return home safely to her family, only to learn that she died in Russian captivity. Tuesday’s reports confirmed our worst fears about the terror she faced in her final months of life. We join Ukrainians in mourning the tragic death of this courageous journalist.
“Russia targeted Viktoria because she was doggedly committed to exposing the truth about life under Russian occupation. Throughout Russia’s unprovoked war on Ukraine, she reported on Russian filtration camps, torture centers, and repression in eastern Ukraine, insisting on returning to Russian-occupied territories at great personal risk. We must honor her memory by advocating for all those trapped under the brutal conditions Viktoria gave her life to expose.”
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