Finn Right International Human Rights Commission, based in Pori, Finland, stands in unwavering solidarity with the journalists of Ukraine who have paid and continue to pay an unimaginable price for the act of bearing witness to truth.
We cannot forget Victoria Roshchyna. She was twenty-seven years old when she died in Russian detention. More than two years have passed since her death, yet no one has been held accountable.
This report documents the full circumstances of Victoria Roshchyna’s detention and death, examines the broader crisis of Ukrainian journalists imprisoned in Russia, and sets out Finn Right International’s urgent and unequivocal demands to the international community.
The Case of Victoria Roshchyna
Who Was Victoria Roshchyna?
Victoria Roshchyna was a twenty-seven-year-old Ukrainian investigative journalist known for her extraordinary courage in reporting from some of the most dangerous territories in the world. She worked without fear and without compromise, traveling into war zones and occupied regions to document the realities that powerful actors sought to conceal.
In August 2023, Roshchyna traveled into Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia to document suspected war crimes and to give a voice to civilians living under occupation. It was reporting that the world needed to see. It was reporting that cost her her life.
Disappearance and Detention
Shortly after entering the occupied territory, Roshchyna was detained by Russian authorities. She then vanished entirely from public view.
Russian authorities took nearly one full year simply to confirm that she was in their custody a delay that constitutes a deliberate and systematic violation of her most fundamental legal rights. Even upon that confirmation, Russian authorities refused to disclose the charges against her, the facility in which she was held, or the conditions of her detention.
Her family, her colleagues, and the international press freedom community were left in the dark a silence that was itself a form of cruelty.
Death and the Mutilation of Her Remains
It was not until February 2025 that Victoria Roshchyna’s body was finally repatriated to Ukraine. What forensic examiners discovered upon its return was deeply shocking and profoundly disturbing.
The examination revealed that her remains had been deliberately mutilated. Multiple organs were found to be missing. The precise circumstances of her death when it occurred, how it occurred, and under whose authority have never been disclosed by Russian authorities.
To this day, Russia has refused to cooperate with Ukraine’s formal investigation into her death. No explanation has been offered. No accountability has been pursued. No justice has been delivered.
Victoria Roshchyna went to Russian-occupied Ukraine to report the truth. She was detained, silenced, killed, and returned to her country with her body bearing the marks of what was done to her in captivity.
This is not an isolated incident. It is a statement of intent.
The Broader Crisis: Ukrainian Journalists Imprisoned in Russia
Journalists Killed Covering the War
Victoria Roshchyna is the only journalist confirmed to have died in Russian detention but she is far from the only victim of Russia’s systematic aggression against press freedom.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, sixteen journalists have been killed while covering the war. These men and women traveled to the front lines, to occupied cities, and to communities under bombardment to ensure that the world could see what was happening. They paid for that work with their lives.
Twenty-Seven Ukrainian Journalists Remain Behind Bars in Russia
As of the date of this report, 27 Ukrainian journalists remain imprisoned in Russia.
Credible reports indicate that a number of these individuals have been subjected to torture during their detention. They are held without transparent legal proceedings, without meaningful consular access in many cases, and without any clear timeline for release or trial.
In May 2026, Russia released 120 Ukrainian civilians as part of a prisoner exchange agreement. Not a single journalist was included in that exchange. Their deliberate exclusion sends an unambiguous message: Russia views imprisoned journalists not as civilians to be returned, but as assets to be retained and as a warning to others who might dare to report the truth from occupied territories.
Russia’s War Against Press Freedom
The imprisonment of Ukrainian journalists in Russia is not a series of isolated law enforcement decisions. It is a coordinated campaign against press freedom, freedom of expression, and the fundamental right of civilian populations to access independent information during armed conflict.
These violations are not merely crimes against individual journalists. They are crimes against the public’s right to know a right that is protected under international humanitarian law and the foundational principles of the United Nations.
Legal Framework and International Obligations
Russia’s treatment of detained journalists violates multiple binding instruments of international law, including:
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees freedom of expression and prohibits arbitrary detention, torture, and cruel or degrading treatment.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Russia is a state party, which protects freedom of expression, the right to a fair trial, and the right to life.
The Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, which extend specific protections to journalists operating in conflict zones as civilians.
The United Nations Basic Principles on the Treatment of Prisoners, which prohibit torture, mutilation, and the deliberate denial of information regarding a prisoner’s status, location, or wellbeing.
Russia’s refusal to cooperate with Ukraine’s investigation into Victoria Roshchyna’s death, its suppression of information regarding detained journalists, and the documented torture of prisoners in its custody constitute serious violations of all of the above.
Finn Right International’s Demands
Finn Right International Human Rights Commission formally and urgently issues the following demands to the international community:
To the Russian Federation:
- Immediately and unconditionally release all 27 Ukrainian journalists currently held in Russian detention facilities.
- Provide full, transparent, and independent accountability for the death of Victoria Roshchyna — including the complete disclosure of the circumstances of her death, the location of her detention, and the identity of those responsible.
- Cooperate fully and without condition with Ukraine’s formal investigation into her death.
- Cease immediately all targeting, detention, torture, and killing of journalists covering the war in Ukraine.
- Victoria Roshchyna’s
A Call to the United Nations and the Global Community:
- Demand the immediate release of all Ukrainian journalists held in Russian detention as a non-negotiable condition in all diplomatic engagements with the Russian Federation.
- Establish an independent international investigation into the death of Victoria Roshchyna and the treatment of all journalists detained by Russia since February 2022.
- Ensure the full inclusion of imprisoned journalists in all future prisoner exchange negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
- Apply sustained and meaningful diplomatic pressure on Russia to honor its binding obligations under international human rights law and international humanitarian law.
To the Government of Finland and the European Union:
- Issue formal and public condemnations of Russia’s systematic imprisonment, torture, and killing of Ukrainian journalists.
- Champion the cause of press freedom in Ukraine at every available international forum, including the United Nations Security Council and the Human Rights Council.
- Increase targeted sanctions against Russian officials responsible for the detention, mistreatment, and killing of journalists.
Conclusion
Finland cannot forget Victoria Roshchyna. We will not forget the twenty-seven journalists who remain imprisoned in Russian detention facilities today. We will not forget the sixteen journalists who gave their lives to bring the truth of this war to the world.
Victoria Roshchyna traveled to occupied Ukraine to document the suffering of people living under Russian control. She was detained, held in secret, killed, and returned to her country mutilated. She was twenty-seven years old.
What was done to her is not simply a war crime against one journalist. It is an assault on the very principle that truth must be protected that those who seek to document power must themselves be protected by the law.
The international community must act not with statements alone, but with sustained, coordinated, and consequential pressure that makes the cost of imprisoning and killing journalists too high for any state to bear.
Read more about the imprisonment of Ukrainian journalists and the global call for press freedom and accountability.
Finn Right International Human Rights Commission Pori, Finland finnright.com info@finnright.com