Ukraine: Victoria Roshchyna Released 10 Days After Disappearance

Location: Ukraine, Kyiv
Date: March 23, 2022

Journalist Victoria Roshchyna, associated with independent Ukrainian television channel Hromadske, was released earlier today, after spending six days in extrajudicial custody of the Russian forces in Ukraine. Victoria was first reported missing on March 16. Her employer organization claimed that she was taken into custody by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). They were unable to establish contact with the journalist and none of her associates had any knowledge about her location. The incident came right after her work on Russian-occupied Enerhodar.

According to a tweet by her colleague Oleksandra Matviichuk, the journalist has now been released.

Victoria was actively covering the conflict in eastern and southern Ukraine following Russia’s invasion of the country. On March 11, she published an article on Enerhodar, a city in southeast Ukraine currently confronting Russian military presence. The work was based on testimonies of civilians in an attempt to draw a larger picture regarding the human cost of the ongoing conflict. Her employers at Hromadske claimed that the day of the publication of her article was also the last they heard from her. On March 12, she was sighted in Berdyansk. However, locals informed the news channel that she was taken into custody by Russian authorities on March 16. No one had heard from her since until today.

In a statement released by Hromadske, the organization provided details of the projects she was working on as well as the current situation. 

“The journalist was preparing materials about military operations in the Zaporozhye and Donetsk regions. She planned to go to Mariupol to talk about what is really happening in the city, which has been shelled daily by Russian troops for more than two weeks,” said the statement. 

It further added that, “for two days we made every effort to release the journalist in a non-public way. But this turned out to be fruitless. Therefore, we call on the Ukrainian and international community to participate in information and actions in the release of Hromadske journalist Victoria Roshchyna.”

The Coalition For Women In Journalism welcomes the release of the journalist, however the incident remains a cause of concern. The press should be free to cover the conflict in the region. And more importantly, even in the case of any authority checks on the press, the process should remain transparent. The disappearance of a journalist after being sighted in Russian custody raises questions regarding the extrajudicial conduct of the Russian forces, the threats to journalists in the region and what it means for the press community covering the conflict.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.

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